The Vagabond King
by Totidem Verbis
Summary: 12/19/2018-On Hiatus / The story of all the times that Eriko asked Raizen, "Have you ever lost someone that you loved?"
1. Teaser

**Author's Note:** This may be the first chapter, but it's really just a teaser for the story.

 **Post Date:** 23 October 2017

 **Word Count:** 195

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 **Chapter One  
Teaser**

 **1992 June**

"We shouldn't be wastin' our time on this!" Makoto yelled as they continued to run. Eriko cut her eyes over at her brother, but the death-filled glare only made the tall asshole laugh. "Admit it! This is a fool's errand! You don't give a shit about the others goin' to war!"

"That's where you're wrong! If one kingdom falls, we all fall!" Eriko shouted back. The sound of rushing wind as they ran at top speed caused them to yell back and forth at each other, but they probably would have been yelling even without the loud wind. Eriko loved her younger brother, just like she knew that he loved her, but they communicated best at loud volumes.

"What if we get there and he's already dead?!" The question was practical, but Eriko still felt like reaching over and decking Makoto for even voicing it out loud.

"He won't be!" Her voice sounded sure, but the sinking feeling in her gut had her worried. What if they didn't make it in time?

 _"Hold on just a little longer, Raizen. I'm coming,"_ Eriko thought as she pushed a little more speed out of her tired legs.

* * *

 **Ending Note:** I know it's extremely short, but that's because it's just a teaser to drum up some interest! I'm already working on the fourth chapter, and the chapters after this one are full-length chapters.

I'd love to know your thoughts!


	2. Fools For Love

**Author's Note:** Since the last chapter was so short, I decided to go ahead and post again! This chapter is longer and has some familiar faces in it. THANK YOU so much to everyone who has already showed interest in this story!

 **Warning:** There's a little bit of self-mutilation in this chapter. It's not graphic at all, but I wanted to give a heads-up.

 **Post Date:** 27 October 2017

 **Word Count:** 5365

* * *

 **Chapter Two  
** **Fools For Love**

 **1992 June**

" _How I loved her…it was one magnificent night."_

"You're a fool, Raizen. A world-class fool," Eriko mumbled as she listened to Raizen talk to his descendant. It was a touching love story, she could admit that, but she still thought that he was an idiot. The story shifted from the past and towards the present, and Eriko sniffed a little as she continued to listen. He was talking about the other Kings now, and the bastard didn't even have the decency to mention her!

"Looks like you've been forgotten," Makoto cackled next to her. Eriko didn't look away from where she could see Raizen sitting as she smacked the back of her brother's head, and she listened to him cuss and threaten to throw her off the plateau as she narrowed her gaze.

"He's not lookin' so good." Eriko was sitting cross-legged on top of the plateau, and she gripped her ankles as she leaned forward and spoke. She could feel Raizen weakening, faster than before, and her stomach clenched as she shot to her feet. Her hands moved to prop on her hips as she looked downwards, and she knew that Makoto was staring up at her.

"Whatever you're thinkin' about doin', don't," he warned.

"Remember what the Oracle said. Whatever it takes," she whispered as she continued to look down at where Raizen was sitting. It was now or never, and she knew what she had to do. Eriko reached down to pat the top of Makoto's head and then gathered her strength into her legs as she pushed herself into the air. She flew over the side of the plateau, headed straight for the ground, and she bent her knees as she hit the ground.

She moved into a roll as her feet made contact with the hard ground, rocks scratched against her back, and she was on her feet again in one smooth motion. She was running as soon as she was standing up straight again, and she thought her quick footfalls mimicked the sound of a racing human heart. Who knew? Maybe her heart would be racing if the thing ever decided to beat again. It only took a minute to reach the small clearing where Raizen was still sitting, and Eriko caught the sight of large brown eyes as she slid to a stop in front of Raizen's sitting body. Dark eyes rose up to meet hers, and Eriko felt her lips pull up into a sneer as she kicked out. Her foot made solid contact with Raizen's chest, and the large demon fell onto his back and made no attempt to get up. No attempt to even retaliate.

"What the hell are you—" Eriko turned her head to look at the descendant and watched as he jumped away from the sudden flames that appeared between them.

"Sorry, Junior, but I've got some unfinished business with this old bastard."

Eriko looked down at where Raizen was sprawled and felt sick at the sight of him. It was obvious that he'd been starving himself, his body was dried up and his skin was stretched over wasted muscles, and she felt her jaw clench as she marched towards him. Her feet were planted on either side of his hips, and she heard herself growl as Raizen dared to smile up at her. She dropped down so that she was straddling his stomach, his long dirty hair was trapped under her knees, and she was about to lean forward when she felt hands pulling on her shoulders.

"Back! Off!" Eriko planted an elbow in the descendant's stomach and sent him flying back, and she was impressed when he regained his footing and started charging back in her direction. She didn't have time to explain to him that she wasn't there to hurt Raizen. Not in the way the kid thought, anyway. "You'll thank me later."

Eriko summoned her energy and surrounded herself with a ring of fire, and she heard the descendant yelling as the flames held him back. That should hold him for a little while. With a small twist, she unsheathed the _tanto_ blade strapped to her thigh. Raizen seemed to relax under her, and it was unnerving how he just laid there. This wasn't the demon that she knew. This was wrong. _He_ was wrong.

"There's no scent. Have you finally moved on?" His voice was just as gravelly as she remembered, but there was a deep exhaustion to his tone. He'd given up, she already knew that, but hearing it at such a close distance was shocking. She tightened her grip on the hilt and looked to the side, and she lowered her flames so that the descendant's eyes could meet hers.

"Do you know why demons feed on humans?!" she called out to him. The boy looked shocked at the question, and he stopped trying to cross her flames to glare at her.

"Why the hell does it matter?!" He was worried, she could see that, and she couldn't blame him. This whole situation was very strange.

"Demons eat humans for strength, not because they specifically need human flesh. But this stubborn old bastard has stopped eating at all. No humans, no demons, no animals, no plants…he's starved himself completely. Shoving a salad down his throat won't be enough to save him," she started to explain. Her body rocked as Raizen laughed, but he wouldn't be laughing for long.

"Have you completely lost it, lady?!" Eriko grit her teeth and looked over at the descendant, and she tried to communicate with her expression that she was not crazy. (Although, she was starting to worry that she just might be.) Before she spoke again, she turned and looked down into Raizen's eyes. Raizen's quickly fading eyes. _Dammit_.

"Demons eat other beings for strength. Devour the flesh, consume the spirit, absorb the strength. Two outta three is gonna have to work this time."

Raizen's eyes widened as she raised her blade, and she bit down into her bottom lip as the sharpened blade cut into her left wrist. A muffled scream was trapped in her throat as the blade cut clean through, and she watched with wide eyes as her severed left hand fell down against Raizen's chest. The older demon was staring at her in shock, she felt a little shocked herself, and she dropped her _tanto_ next to Raizen's body so she could pick up her left hand.

"Eriko." Raizen's growl was a warning, one that she wasn't going to heed.

"You're not allowed to die, not yet," she said and pushed her left forearm against Raizen's chin. He was so weak that she was able to force his mouth to stay open, and she had to clench her eyes shut as she pushed her severed hand into his mouth.

Eriko said silent prayers as she forced Raizen to consume flesh for the first time in a thousand years, and she didn't open her eyes again until she was sure that her hand had been pushed down his throat. When that disgusting part was over, she looked down and met his enraged eyes with her own. Maybe he'd thank her for this someday or maybe he'd kill her as soon as he was able, she didn't really care either way. She had to save him.

Her right hand pushed against his chest as she released the full extent of her energy, and she let it flow into Raizen. She gave him nearly everything she had. Her demonic energy was drained in a matter of moments and then she pushed out her life energy as well. Just kept pushing and pushing until there was almost nothing left of her…and then she stopped. The world around her was swimming as she tried to lift her head, and she tipped one side of her lips up into a smile.

"Now we're even," was the last thing she said before everything faded to black.

 **.xXx.**

Yusuke ran forward as soon as the flames disappeared, and he slid to a stop right next to Raizen's body. Raizen's eyes were closed and he looked dead, but he was definitely still breathing. The crazy woman was slumped across his torso, and she was slowly moving up and down with Raizen's deep breaths. Yusuke was still just staring down at the two of them and trying to keep from hurling his lunch when he heard loud grumbling, and he looked up just as light blue popped out of some bushes. The light color was spiky hair, attached to a pretty tall guy, who was grumbling under his breath as he stomped his way out of the bushes and over to where Yusuke was standing.

"That was the most disgustin' thing I have ever seen in my fuckin' life, and that's includin' disembowelin' that fuckin' centaur lookin' asshole." The man stopped on the other side of Raizen's body, and he bent down to fist a hand around the woman's ponytail. Her short red hair wrapped around his fist a couple of times before he yanked her up, and he held her in the air so that her eyes would have been even with his if her eyes had been open. "What tha fuck were ya thinkin', huh?! Force feedin' this bastard your fuckin' hand?! Have you fuckin' lost it?!"

"I owed him." Okay, so Yusuke had been wrong. The woman was still conscious, but she sounded out of it.

"Cut the shit, Eri, it's me you're talkin' to. You saved the fucker 'cause you love 'im. Admit it." She loved…Raizen?

"Will someone tell me what's going on?!" Yusuke yelled. The guy's head snapped up, and Yusuke held his ground as bright blue eyes met his own. Even tightened his jaw and lifted his chin a little. The guy laughed a little before twisting his arm so that the woman was facing towards Yusuke now, even though the guy was still holding her in the air by her ponytail, and a second pair of bright red eyes looked across at him. (Or were her hair and eyes brown and just looked red because he kept picturing her surrounded by all that red fire?)

"Go get Hokushin. We need to talk," the woman said quietly. She looked paler than she had before, which made sense considering _**she'd just chopped off her hand**_.

"And why should I do anything that you tell me to?" The woman looked away from him and down at the ground, at where Raizen was still laying.

"Because I just saved your ancestral father's life. The least you can do is run a quick errand for me."

"That, and it's rude to deny a King's request. Run along, kid. Go fetch Hokushin," the guy added. Yusuke looked down at Raizen, at the two obviously crazy people standing on the other side of Raizen's still unconscious body, back down at Raizen, and the woman was smiling just a little when he looked up again.

"You're worried about him, and I respect that. You protect family, no matter the cost, always." Her voice was starting to slur a little, but she still managed to reach up and pat the top of the guy's head. The guy who was still holding her up by her hair. She didn't speak again until her hand started to fall back to her side. "You have no reason to trust me, but I'm gonna have to ask you to trust me anyway. Besides, I just physically maimed myself to keep the bastard alive. Why would I kill him while you're gone? If I wanted him dead, I never would have stepped in."

"Shoulda just let 'im go," the guy muttered.

"Quiet, you!" the woman snapped and kicked her foot back. She caught the guy just under his knee, and he jumped up so that he was standing on one leg and continued to hold her up as he cussed up at the sky. Maybe Yusuke was dreaming and none of this was actually real?

"I'll go grab Hokushin," he finally decided. The woman did have a point. Yusuke knew that Raizen was trying to kick in death's door before she showed up, and she could have easily killed him while her fire kept Yusuke back. So she probably didn't want Raizen dead. Not today, at least.

"That's a good boy," the woman said quietly as Yusuke turned around. He bit back his smartass remark and started running, and he did his best not to think as he ran back towards the palace (or whatever it was).

He just kept picturing that woman straddling Raizen while she _cut off her hand_ , and he could admit that he looked away when he realized what she was doing. Over the years he'd seen some messed up shit, and he did not want to add that to the list. Even with his face turned away though, he'd been able to feel the flames. The flames that he couldn't cross, and he tried. After everything, what was a little fire? Except the fire acted more like a barrier, and he'd been stuck on the sidelines. Then, after the disgusting part, she'd given her energy to Raizen. Her energy was the same color as her hair and eyes, some dark shade of brown that looked red, and she'd pushed it into Raizen. He was pretty sure his ancestor was only still breathing because of her.

"Lord Urameshi!" Yusuke slid to a stop before he could reach the large group of monks, and he took in a deep breath as he waved Hokushin over. He really didn't want to have this talk with the entirety of Tourin's army, and the woman had only asked for Hokushin. She'd also said she only wanted to talk to him, and he really hoped that was true. This day had been weird enough as it was, and he did not want to fight off some crazy demons today.

"Okay, quick question," Yusuke said as Hokushin stopped in front of him.

"Why has King Raizen's stomach—"

"Do you know this really short woman, with brown or possibly red hair up in a ponytail, and with brown or possibly red eyes? Who travels with this really tall dude with spiky blue hair and blue eyes? Also, there was fire. And a lot of yelling. And I think she might have saved Raizen's life? Is any of this making any sense?" Yusuke thought over the situation again, recounted all of the big details, and then snapped his fingers. "Oh! I think the guy mentioned something about her being a King?"

"You have seen Eriko and Makoto Arakawa?" Hokushin didn't look worried, so were they all on the same side?

"Hell if I know, but they want to talk to you." Yusuke watched as Hokushin smiled and inclined his head, and he had to turn around and start to jog to catch up with the taller demon. "So, you gonna tell me who they are? I thought the only other Kings were Yomi and Mukuro."

"Eriko is the King of the Western territory, Corinth. We did not mention her because a barrier surrounds Corinth, and King Eriko hasn't been seen outside of her territory in centuries," Hokushin explained as they ran. So there was a fourth territory and a fourth King, but no one thought he needed to know that?!

"If she's one of Raizen's friends, why hasn't he asked her for help?" Hokushin glanced over at him, and his stride didn't break at all as his brows drew down. Okay, so now he was worried about something.

"The two Kings have a long and complicated history. I am not sure if friendship is an accurate description for their relationship." Well, the guy did say that she loved Raizen. Then again, Raizen said the only woman he ever loved was the human who died forever ago. Was that why their history was complicated?

"Friends or not, she cut off one of her hands and shoved it down Raizen's throat." That made Hokushin start to slide to a stop, or maybe he started sliding because they reached the little clearing where Raizen was still lying on the ground.

The guy and woman weren't standing anymore though. Instead, the guy was sitting down on the ground with his long legs stretched out in front of him. The woman was sitting between his spread legs with her back against his front, and the guy had his chin propped on top of her head. Bright blue eyes watched them as Hokushin stepped closer to Raizen's body, and the woman's eyes blinked open as Yusuke stepped up next to Hokushin. The guy made some kind of quiet growling sound as the woman smiled, and Yusuke crossed his arms and decided to keep his mouth shut for a bit to see if he could figure out what the hell was going on.

"You should have respected his decision, Eriko," Hokushin said after a moment. The guy, Makoto, made a quiet _tch_ sound and loosely wrapped his arms around the woman's middle.

"I know it's been a while and I'm sure some things have changed, but my title is the same." Yusuke could actually feel sweat popping along his temples as the woman's energy raised, which he didn't think was possible considering how much she literally pushed into Raizen.

"My apologies, King Eriko." Yusuke's eyes widened as Hokushin lowered himself in a deep bow, and the woman laughed quietly.

"She's just fuckin' with ya, Hokushin. You know Eri doesn't give a shit what you call her," Makoto said and then moved so that his cheek was resting on top of Eriko's head instead. The change in position meant that he wasn't looking in their direction anymore, so Yusuke assumed that he was checking out of the conversation for the moment.

"He's right, and so are you. Raizen made the decision to starve to death, but he made that decision without having all of the facts. Once he knows everything…" Eriko trailed off and looked at Raizen, who was still breathing steadily but was definitely unconscious, and then continued. "If he still wants to die afterwards, I'll let him die."

"Why did you save him?" Hell, Yusuke could answer Hokushin's question. She said she'd saved him because there were things he needed to know, and Makoto said she'd done it because she loved him. Considering what she'd done, Yusuke was siding was Makoto. A person didn't cut off their hand just to deliver a message. Love though, love could make people do stupid shit.

"Because he didn't kill me," Eriko said with a tired looking smile. The answer made no sense to Yusuke, but Hokushin smiled and nodded like he knew exactly what she meant.

"You realize the problem that this creates?" Hokushin asked and glanced down at Raizen. The woman sighed and raised her left arm, and Yusuke tried not to stare at the bloody stump where her hand used to be. Tried and failed.

"Forced energy transfers of that magnitude are unpredictable. There is a chance that his body will start to reject the energy, and he'll die. There is a chance that his body will lock down and go into stasis, leaving him in a coma until he dies. There is a chance, and this is the one I'm banking on, that he'll be just fine in a week or two."

"He will be vulnerable until he awakens and releases his own energy. By now, I am sure that the others have realized that his stomach is no longer growling. Your energy is masking his, so they will not be able to sense him." The others, which meant Mukuro and Yomi. So they thought that Raizen was dead, because they couldn't hear his stomach or sense his energy. That was probably really not good. Wait, change that. It was probably really Not Good. The mental capitalization was needed in this case.

"Then we will continue on as if he's dead. Do you trust me, Hokushin?" Yusuke watched as a fluffy reddish brown tail curled over Makoto's leg, and a fluffy light blue tail slowly wrapped around it. Huh. He didn't even notice the tails earlier.

"Yes, King Eriko." Makoto huffed at the sound of the title, and Eriko's lips thinned as she forced herself to sit up. Makoto had to lift his head up as she moved, and his hands gripped her sides to keep her upright.

"Do you trust Raizen's heir?" She didn't even look at Yusuke as she asked it, which was rude. Hokushin didn't look over at him either.

"Implicitly." Hokushin was lucky that Yusuke wasn't actually an idiot and knew what that meant.

"Then let me take Raizen to Corinth and act as if he's dead. Let all of Demon World mourn his passing, at least until we know if he'll ever wake up."

"That's crazy!" Yusuke yelled. He kept quiet for as long as he could, but they couldn't actually be discussing this. This was a crazy plan, and possibly a stupid one if they were serious about him being in charge. Because that's what it would mean if Raizen was actually dead.

"I never even asked you what your name is, did I? I'm—"

"Eriko Arakawa, yeah, I know." He thought she'd get upset about him interrupting her, but she just smiled instead.

"Fair enough, Yusuke Urameshi."

"How do you—"

"Raizen is vulnerable, Yusuke, and I can't predict what Yomi and Mukuro might do if they find out about his current condition. I could protect him from one of them, but both? I'm not confident that I could, and I've gotten cautious in my old age. My entire territory is surrounded by a barrier that only a select few can enter. He'll be safe there. I give you my word."

"I don't know you, so your word doesn't mean that much to me." He could tell that Hokushin wanted to lecture him, he started to tense up like he was preparing a lecture anyway, but Eriko's quiet laughter cut him off.

"You don't know me, but you've got good instincts. I can tell. Do you think I'm going to kill him?" Her eyes were looking directly into his, and he still couldn't decide what color they were. It was frustrating.

"You cut off your freakin' hand for him," Yusuke sighed a moment later. She wasn't going to kill Raizen. Yeah, there was no way that he could know that for sure, but that didn't change the way he _felt_. Something was telling him that this woman would do whatever was necessary to keep Raizen alive, and that was good enough for now.

"It's just a hand. I'm sure I'll figure something out," Eriko mused as she flexed the fingers of her right hand.

"Maybe we can put a knife on the end of it," Makoto suggested.

"Keep it up and I'll turn myself into an only child." They were siblings? They did have the same last name and were really comfortable with each other, but they didn't look much alike. Except for the long fluffy tails, but those were different colors.

"So you take the old man with you, and we act like he's dead?" Yusuke asked. Just for a little extra clarification.

"That's the plan," Eriko said and grinned. No one should smile like that not even a full hour after losing a hand.

"Deal," Yusuke decided.

"Pick him up, little brother. I want to go home," Eriko said and then was suddenly on her feet. Yusuke never even saw her move. One second she was sitting on the ground, and the next second she was standing next to where Makoto was still sitting. Makoto grumbled under his breath as he lumbered to his feet, and Eriko started to walk over to where Yusuke and Hokushin were standing as Makoto leaned down to pick up Raizen.

Yusuke could see the way that Makoto easily slung Raizen's dead weight over his shoulder even as Eriko stepped in front of him, because the woman was seriously short. He could see right over the top of her head, which meant that she had to be about Hiei's height. So, somewhere around four-ten? As for her brother, he was a few inches over six feet. Definitely no similarity there. Yusuke managed to hold still as Eriko reached up and gently grabbed his face, but it was a close thing. Her palm was pressing against the bottom of his chin, her thumb was braced against his jaw, and her fingers spread out over his cheek as she leaned up on her toes and turned his head from side-to-side.

"Blood loss making you crazy?" he asked as she inspected him.

"I could see him in your face, even at a distance. Now that I'm closer though, I can see echoes of her too. Weird, huh?" Eriko asked as she fell back onto her heels.

"Yeah, that's the weirdest thing about today." Her hand slipped off his face as he spoke, and she stepped backwards until she was standing next to Makoto.

"In a week, we'll send a messenger to Tourin to see how things are going. If you need anything before then, you're shit out of luck," Eriko said and then bowed her head. Makoto just glared at him one last time before turning around, and Eriko smiled as she lifted her head. "See ya later, Hokushin! Lord Urameshi!"

Hokushin hummed but didn't call out any kind of farewell, and they both stayed standing in the same place as Eriko and Makoto slowly disappeared. A part of Yusuke wanted to follow them and make sure that his ancestor stayed alive, but he knew he had other things that he needed to take care of. That and, well, he trusted Eriko to keep Raizen breathing. She'd had her chance to kill him and saved him instead, so he wasn't going to waste energy worrying about her offing the guy in his sleep. Once they were completely out of sight, Yusuke turned and looked at Hokushin.

"It's only going to get weirder after this, huh?"

"Of that I have no doubt, King Urameshi."

 **.xXx.**

"Just hand him over!" Eriko yelled about twenty minutes away from the palace. They'd crossed the barrier about an hour ago, and she could see the twin mountain plateaus that made up the broken peak of Mount Jirou.

Since they approached from the West, they'd reached the slightly shorter peak first. On that side of the mountain, the side that faced the majority of Corinth, there was a steep set of stairs that led to the top of the mountain. There, at the top of the flattened peak, was where she had built her throne. She'd had to carve a space out of the top surface of the mountain peak for it to fit properly, but she liked the way it looked. Behind the massive throne, on the rest of the peak of the mountain which had been ground down into a plateau, was a temple. That temple was open to the people of Corinth and was where all of the public celebrations took place. The original peak of Mount Jirou had been split in two during a battle, and the crevice between the two peaks was about five miles deep. The crevice was only about half a mile wide though, so she'd had a bridge built to join the two plateaued peaks. On the second plateau, mostly hidden away, was her palace.

It was _home_. She'd helped build that palace with her own two hands, and she was proud of it. It was the home that kept her family safe, and the palace itself was a reminder of who she was and what she'd done. Although, there were times, when she'd wished that she didn't have to climb a mountain and then cross a bridge just to get to her home. Like now. Makoto had to carry Raizen up the mountain because she couldn't hold onto him and climb with just one hand, but they were crossing the bridge now. So she could take her brother's _burden_ and then hopefully he'd shut the hell up. His constant complaining was starting to give her a headache.

"He's all yours!" Makoto yelled and tossed Raizen over her shoulder. Eriko was strong despite her size, but she'd given up a lot of energy and she was under five feet tall. So she staggered for a few steps before righting herself, and she locked her left arm across Raizen's back as she balanced his weight on her left shoulder.

"You knew I was gonna try to keep him alive," she said as they neared the end of the bridge. They were almost there. Almost at the end. Then, maybe, she could get a little rest.

"Didn't think you were gonna give him fuckin' body parts. Shoulda locked ya in the dungeon," Makoto huffed and cut his eyes over at her.

"We don't have a dungeon," Eriko pointed out. When she became King, they only declared a few rules. One of them? No slaves or prisoners, so there was no need for a dungeon.

"Coulda built one, just for your crazy ass." She knew her little brother was just worried about her and not actually angry, so she let the angry tone just roll over her. Besides, she was too tired to argue with Makoto right now.

The front door didn't make a sound as it opened, and Makoto held the door open as she walked inside and then closed it behind her. Despite their soundless entrance, Eriko could still hear footsteps headed their way. The floors were wood, built over hard mountain stone, and her head tilted to the side as she listened. Heavy footsteps, the creak of leather, decisive stomps with no dragging heels…Yeah, she knew who was about to walk around the corner. She caught sight of long dark purple hair before a pair of amber eyes quickly looked them over, and toned arms crossed under ample breasts as a quiet laugh echoed in the room.

"Finally decided to kidnap the asshole and chain him up in your room?" Her voice was rough, and Eriko could hear the dry click of her throat as she swallowed. She'd been working without taking breaks again.

"Something like that, Celosia," Eriko said and smiled a little. She made it forward a few more steps before amber eyes narrowed, and Eriko knew that she'd been caught.

"You cut off your fuckin' hand?! That's fuckin' crazy!"

"That's what I've been sayin'!"

"We are not discussing this right now!" Eriko yelled and looked between the two. Makoto huffed and looked away from her eyes, and Celosia made a quiet sound in her dry throat but still dipped her chin in a subtle sign of respect.

"They're back!" Eriko groaned at the loud yell, and she could hear more footsteps headed towards them. Several sets of footsteps too. Two, no, three. All rushing right towards her. Well, she knew she was going to have to explain the situation. She just thought that she'd get to take a nap first or something. Three bodies came tumbling around the corner, and Eriko locked her knees as three sets of eyes looked over at her.

"Go get the other three and then go to the kitchen. I'm gonna go put him down, and I'll be right back," Eriko promised. Makoto sniffed and stomped off, with Celosia right behind him, and Eriko listened as two footsteps quickly moved off to do as she asked. Which left only one. "Worried?"

"Did you see him?" Eriko had to tilt her head way back to meet his dark gray eyes, but she didn't mind. She'd learned early on that she couldn't really get mad at him for anything, which would be annoying if she didn't like him so much. So, instead of complaining about him being a pain in the neck, she just shifted Raizen on her shoulder and smiled reassuringly up at him.

"Yeah, I saw him. Don't worry so much, okay? Urameshi is perfectly healthy, Kazuma."

* * *

 **Ending Note:** See? There was some slight mutilation, but it was for a good cause? I know things probably seem crazy and confusing right now, but everything will slowly be explained over the next several chapters. For now, I'm just going to say that the ending of the anime will be the same but Raizen isn't dead. Everyone just believes it.

Also, Kuwabara is in the Demon World! Why? You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out!

To see a basic outline map of the Demon World and the visual base for Corinth's palace on Mt Jirou, just remove the spaces: tv - writes - ff. tumblr vagabond

 **Star Charter:** Yep! This is going to be a Raizen/OC story, but it's going to take a while for it to get there. There's still going to be a lot of Raizen though, as well as a lot of other familiar characters. Yeah, it's going to be a strange mix, but I'm hoping that it'll keep things interesting. Thank you for the review!

 **SakiHanajima1:** I'm so sorry for the tease! I promise that the next chapter will be something completely brand new! And I think the next chapter is longer than this one too, so there's that to look forward to. Thank you for the review!

 **backoff22:** I'm glad you liked the little teaser chapter! Thank you for the review!

 **shirohara:** I'm sure there's other Raizen stories out there, but I haven't read any of them. This idea got stuck in my head though, so I'm gonna write it out and see what happens. Thank you for the review!


	3. We Need You

**Author's Note:** Another update! I rewrote this chapter a few times, and I'm now satisfied with the outcome. I think. I hope everyone likes it, and THANK YOU so much to everyone who's supported this story so far!

Oh! Please pay attention to the dates, because they are important. The last chapter took place in June 1992, and this chapter is in March 1991. So, it takes place a year BEFORE the last chapter.

 **Post Date:** 04 November 2017

 **Word Count:** 8985

* * *

 **Chapter Three  
** **We Need You**

 **1991 March**

Dark aqua eyes widened as the words started to sink in, and Nari felt her lips pressing into a thin line as she looked up at the massive throne. She'd been asked to meetings at the throne before, sure, but never for something like this. This wasn't just a normal family meeting. This was her King giving her an order, and it wasn't an order that she could just refuse. Chestnut colored eyes, which were looking more red than brown today, narrowed when Nari didn't immediately respond. Nari wasn't afraid of Eriko, despite knowing what her King was capable of, but she still hurried to reply.

"Are you sure that you want me to do this? There isn't someone more…suited?" Nari finally settled on. Corinth was a large kingdom, the kingdom encompassed the entire western territory of Demon World, and Nari knew that nearly all of Corinth's citizens would proudly follow their King's orders. So there had to be someone more suited for this task.

"Are you implying that you are not capable of carrying out this task?" The question came from the woman sitting next to the throne, seated on a cushion so that she wouldn't have to sit on the rocky ground of the mountain plateau, and Nari tried not to fidget nervously under the unwavering pale green gaze.

"Of course not, Tsubaki. It's just, what if he doesn't listen to me? Or like me?" Tsubaki smiled at her, though not necessarily in a kind way, and the King laughed quietly as she sat forward on her throne so that her elbows were braced against her knees.

"Our little Oracle is never wrong, Nari, and she's the one who said that it had to be you. Don't doubt yourself, sweet girl. There isn't a being in any world that could dislike you." The first part of that came from the King, but that second part was all Eriko. If Eriko believed that she could do this, she could do this.

"Then I'll go prepare," Nari said and smiled.

"No time for that, I'm afraid." At Nari's shocked look, the King laughed again and then fell back in her throne. "Don't worry, I'll take care of your father and sister. You have to leave now to make it on time, and you'll need these."

Nari lifted an arm and caught the fabric that was tossed at her. She looked down as she lowered her arm, and the dark green fabric looked innocuous. She knew, from previous experience however, that the bracelets were actually energy suppressors. That made sense, considering where she was being asked to go. Right now. She glanced down at herself and sighed a little in relief as she realized that she was dressed in her usual attire instead of training clothes. Her heavy black boots were on her feet, and the tight laces held the leather against the bottom of her legs. Her sleeveless white shirt was loose around her upper body, but her dark green sash tied around her waist pulled the shirt in tight around her waist. Under the sash, the bottom of the shirt flared around her hips and the upper parts of her thighs. That meant that only the very bottom of her tight black shorts could be seen, and the plain leather holsters wrapped around each of her thighs was hidden by the flared bottom of her shorts. The holsters were heavy, which was how she knew she'd remembered to holster both of her _tekko_. Her _odachi_ , the long sword that was usually strapped to her back, was in her room though.

"What about my tail and ears?" Nari asked as she slipped the first energy suppressor over her hand. Her fingerless black gloves extended up to her biceps, but the bracelets wouldn't look out of place against the tight black fabric. The bows on the dark green bracelets actually matched the bow tied at the front of the sash around her waist.

"The bracelets have been upgraded. Your energy will be below a D-Class, and they'll cloak your ears and tails to spiritually unaware humans," Tsubaki explained in a bored monotone. That was good. Nari knew that there were ways to shift her appearance, but she wasn't sure how she'd feel without her cat ears or tail.

"Don't worry so much, Nari, and we'll see you when you come home." She could tell that her King was dismissing her, and she knew that her task was important. She _needed_ to do this, and she wouldn't fail.

 **.xXx.**

Nari hid in the bushes and kept her ears pressed flat against her head as she observed the scene unfolding in front of her. She still wasn't used to feeling so weak, she hated it actually, but she knew that it was necessary. Despite the low energy, she could still hear perfectly well. So she listened as Yusuke Urameshi explained what he was leaving to go do, and she tensed up after the Spirit Defense Force showed up. She'd heard stories of them, and she wasn't a fan. She kept silent and still as others joined them, until they were all outside. Nari knew who they all were, this wasn't even her first time seeing them, but it'd been a while. Her attention kept trying to shift every time someone else spoke or moved, but she knew that she needed to focus on one person and one person only.

"I feel like the ugly one at the dance," Kazuma Kuwabara muttered after Hiei and Kurama divulged their plans. Kazuma Kuwabara was the only fully human member of the Spirit Detective Team, and he was Nari's big task. So she kept her focus on him.

She listened as he spoke about their team falling apart, and she felt her stomach clench at the words. She'd been at the Dark Tournament, had watched how the entire team fought to stay alive, and she'd been impressed with the human then. She was still impressed, because she could see how much he cared for his friends. How loyal he was. Then she listened as Yusuke Urameshi gave Kazuma Kuwabara a last goodbye and a promise, which was good. She didn't want any of them to part on bad terms, because that would make her task a whole lot more difficult.

After what felt like forever, the meeting came to an end. Everyone started to disperse after Yusuke was gone, and Nari waited to see what Kazuma would do. He spoke with the others for a while, until his sister reminded him how late it was and that he had other things to worry about. Like studying. Kazuma groaned but acquiesced, and the Reaper agreed to take the siblings back home. Botan! That was the Reaper's name! Nari didn't move out of her crouch until the Reaper took off, and she let out a quiet sigh before starting to run after them.

Normally, running wasn't a problem for Nari. Running was something that she was good at, especially after growing up in a palace with a lot of open space. She was always running to get somewhere else, but running at this pace with her energy so limited was difficult. The Reaper was fast as she flew above the countryside and then the city, and Nari had to be careful not to be spotted once they reached the city. She was leaning against the side of an apartment building and trying to catch her breath as Botan dropped the siblings off in front of the same building, and she was starting to breathe normally as they said their goodbyes.

"I'm going to the store, and you're going upstairs to study," she heard Shizuru say once Botan was gone.

"Fine," Kazuma groaned. Nari listened to his footsteps as he walked into the building, and she tipped her head back as she took in a deep breath. Everything was different in the Human World. Sights, scents, sounds…all of it was unfamiliar, but she knew Kazuma's scent. She knew it well enough to track it anyway. His scent reminded her of the large pine trees that grew sporadically on Mount Jirou, but it was more than that too. More like the soothing scent of the trees after a storm, the scent of pine and rain mixed together.

Once she got a lock on his scent and was able to tell where it was strongest, she turned around and pushed what strength she did have into her legs. She managed to jump high enough to get her fingertips on a window ledge, and she blew out a sigh before pulling herself up. Luckily for her, the window was already open. She slipped through the open window and bounced a little as she landed on a bed, and she'd just scooted to the edge of the bed to stand up when the bedroom door opened.

Kazuma froze just inside the doorway as he noticed her, and Nari smiled while keeping her lips tightly closed. She was sure the ears and tail were a tip-off that she wasn't human, and Kazuma had enough spirit awareness to tell that she wasn't human anyway. Still, she didn't want to flash her fangs at him. She wanted him to trust her. (There was also the fact that she respected him and genuinely liked him, so she was hoping to make a good impression.) Kazuma took two steps farther into the room, and Nari tipped her head back a little more so that she could continue to hold his shocked gaze.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here? Why are you here?" he asked in a rush.

"My name is Nari, I came in through the window, and my reason for being here is quite complicated. Put simply, I'm here for you, Kazuma."

 **.xXx.**

" _Put simply, I'm here for you, Kazuma."_

That's what the demon girl said, and Kuwabara knew that she was a demon girl because he could feel it. She also had furry pointed ears on top of her head, and there was a fluffy tail loosely wrapped around her waist. Kuwabara blew out a heavy sigh as he crossed his arms, because he'd had a long night and he didn't feel like dealing with any other demons tonight. Normally if faced with a strange demon in his bedroom he'd be ready to fight, but he had the weirdest feeling like she wasn't looking for a fight. She actually looked pretty normal, or human-like, except for the ears and tail.

"I'm retired." Huh. He hadn't really meant to say that, but he opened his mouth and that was what came out. The girl's dark eyes looked really sad for a moment, but then she straightened her shoulders and tipped her chin up so that she could look directly into his eyes.

"I realize that tonight was difficult for you, because it seems as if your team has disbanded. Gone in different directions. Possibly to even fight against each other." The girl's voice was soft and she kept her tone even, but her emotions were clear to see in her dark eyes. She looked sad again. "My King would like to avoid that, and she has requested your help in the matter."

"Oh yeah? And which King is that?" The demon girl, _Nari_ , had said she. He knew from hurried explanations that there were three Kings in Demon World, but he didn't remember anyone mentioning that one of the Kings was actually a girl.

"King Eriko." Her eyes seemed to brighten a little at that, and she suddenly looked more relaxed and less tense. Let's see. He knew that Urameshi was going to see his ancestor Raizen, that Hiei was going to fight for Mukuro, and that Kurama was going to see his old friend Yomi. No one ever said anything about someone named Eriko, and there were only three Kings in Demon World. Unless someone had left something out?

"Never heard of that one," he said and narrowed his eyes down at the shorter girl. Nari hummed a little as she rocked back onto her heels, and she glanced up at the ceiling for a moment before meeting his eyes again.

"The other Kings don't really talk about her much anymore, not since she put up a barrier around her kingdom. Only a few people, like me, can enter the barrier. Our territory, the west, is completely cut off from the rest of the Demon World. The barrier keeps us safe." Kuwabara prided himself on being able to tell when people were lying, and it seemed like she was telling the truth. There was one thing that stuck out to him though.

"Are you saying that everyone else is trapped there?" If only a few people could enter the barrier, how many people could leave it?

"Of course not!" Nari actually looked offended at the question, and her arms crossed as her eyes narrowed up at him. "My King would never hold anyone against their will. Anyone is free to leave at any time that they choose, and anyone can ask for an escort if they would like to leave and then return."

Okay, that answered that. Still, she was talking about Demon World. A demon king in a demon city in a world filled with demons. Kuwabara was one hundred percent human, and he wasn't planning on returning to Demon World. Ever. Nari claimed that her King wanted to avoid his friends fighting against each other, which probably meant that she wanted to avoid all of the territories fighting against each other, but he didn't see how he could help with that. Yeah, he was strong. Physically and psychically. But, as much as it bothered him to admit, he wasn't on Urameshi's level. He wasn't even on Kurama and Hiei's level.

"Sounds like a decent enough king, but I ain't going. I'm done with all the demon stuff." Kuwabara just wanted to be normal now. He complained about studying, but he wanted to get good grades and get into a good school. He'd had his fun and adventures. It was time for him to start growing up.

"I understand your reluctance, especially after everything you've been through, but—"

"You don't know what I've been through!" Kuwabara interrupted. Nari's eyes widened at the sudden yell, and he realized that her eyes were a dark aqua color. A deep blue-green mixture that stood out against her pale skin and long blonde hair, and the ears on top of her head had flattened down so much that the blonde fur blended in completely with her hair. He would have apologized, but she didn't look scared. Just surprised.

"You're right, of course, but I was at the Dark Tournament. I watched you fight, saw what you were able to overcome. We also heard what happened between your team and Sensui, and we heard rumors about Maze Castle." She paused long enough to smile, and her ears lifted so that he could see the white tips of them again. "I don't personally know what you've been through, but I do know that you have suffered because of my kind. All I ask is that you remember that not all demons are the same."

He already knew that. He'd forgotten himself a little earlier, after hearing the news that his friends were leaving to probably go fight against each other, but he _knew_ that not all demons were bad. Kurama was a demon and his friend. Hiei was a demon and his…well, they weren't exactly friends but they were teammates. There were others at the Dark Tournament that helped them at the end. Yukina was a demon, and he knew that she could never be anything but good.

"I know that, but I'm not changing my mind. Tell your king, thanks but no thanks," he said and walked over to his desk. He fell into his desk chair and turned around so that he could see Nari, and she turned so that she was facing him again. He watched as she bit down on her bottom lip and realized that she had fangs. Her canine teeth were sharper than the rest of her teeth, and one of the sharp points lightly dented her bottom lip.

"What do you know about the structure of Demon World?" He knew there were three kings, or four apparently, and that they didn't get along. That was pretty much it.

"Three kings hate each other." She nodded a little as she took a few steps forward, and Kuwabara felt his eyes widen as she suddenly dropped to the floor. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, so that her elbows were propped against her knees as she leaned forward, and she looked up at him from under blonde bangs.

"It's a little more complicated than that, and I wouldn't say that they hate each other. They just have different views on things. Their biggest argument over the past thousand years has been about human consumption. King Raizen has forbidden the demons in his territory from eating humans, which is something that Kings Mukuro and Yomi disagree with."

"And your king?" Whoa, wait, did Nari eat humans? Because he wasn't okay with a human-eating demon hanging out in his room.

"We do not eat humans. May I continue now?" She didn't seem upset at the interruption, but she did look a little inpatient. Her fingers were lightly pulling at the laces of her boots, like she couldn't sit completely still, and she was lightly biting her bottom lip again.

"Yeah, uh, sorry." She smiled after he apologized and shifted so that she was gripping the toes of her boots instead.

"Because of his refusal to eat, King Raizen is starting to grow weaker. We don't think he'll last longer than a year or two before dying, and Demon World will fall into war if that happens. You probably think that won't affect you, but _it will_. After King Raizen dies, the other two kings will fight each other for sole control of Demon World. If King Mukuro wins, Demon World will become chaotic. After that, it won't be long before that chaos spills over into this world and Spirit World. If King Yomi wins, he'll unite Demon World and then seek to conquer this world and Spirit World."

"Your king won't fight them?"

He had no idea that the Demon World was so messed up. Did Urameshi know all of that before deciding to go back? Did Hiei and Kurama? They all knew there was a possibility that they'd have to fight each other, but this sounded like something a lot bigger than just a few demons holding some grudges. Nari was talking like all three worlds would be in big trouble after Urameshi's ancestor died, which would apparently be soon.

"King Eriko will fight if she has no other choice, to keep all three worlds from being destroyed, but she is just one demon. She also knows that all wars have casualties, and we all have loved ones that we don't want to lose to a war. Especially if that war can be avoided."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Kuwabara understood what Nari's king wanted, he knew what it was like to want to protect the people you loved, but none of this had anything to do with him.

"My King believes that you could be the key to stopping the war before it begins. When King Raizen dies, Yusuke Urameshi will become the new King. If Hiei becomes King Mukuro's second and Kurama becomes King Yomi's second, then there's a chance that you could get through to them and stop them from being so idiotic."

"He's not going."

"GAH!" Shizuru's voice had been quiet, but her sudden appearance still scared the crap out of him! He nearly fell out of his chair before twisting to the side to face her, and she was leaning in his doorway with her arms crossed. She was looking down at the floor, where Nari was sitting, and Kuwabara glanced over to see that Nari was looking at Shizuru now. "Don't scare me like that!"

"You can't take him," Shizuru told Nari.

"I already told her I wasn't interested," Kuwabara huffed.

"You don't have to answer tonight. I understand if you need time to think about it. What I'm asking of you, it's not some little thing. If you agree to it, you'll have to come to Demon World with me and stay until King Raizen's death. I'll give you until the weekend to think about it," Nari said decisively and flowed to her feet.

"That's just three days," Kuwabara pointed out. Nari nodded as she walked back over towards his bed and climbed up onto it, and she easily swung herself up to sit on the windowsill.

"You don't have to decide then. Just think about it, and I'll answer any questions you might have." That part was directed at Kuwabara and then she turned to look at Shizuru before speaking again. "I understand your worry, I really do. When my sister told me that she wanted to go to the Human World, I asked her not to. I didn't think it was safe, but I knew that I had to let her make her own decisions and trust that she knew what she was doing. So I'm not asking you to trust me, Shizuru. I'm asking you to trust him."

Then, before either of them could say anything, Nari waved and fell backwards out of the window. Kuwabara started to get up until he remembered that she was a demon and would be perfectly fine, and he sighed as he slumped back in his desk chair. Tonight had been such a weird night, and he rolled his shoulders to try and get some tension out before looking over at Shizuru. She was still looking at the open window, but she turned to look at him when she felt him looking at her.

"Study now. We'll talk after you pass your test," Shizuru said and then slammed his door shut behind her.

"Like I'm gonna be able to focus now," he grumbled but turned around to face his desk anyway. Maybe he'd be able to use studying as a distraction.

 **.xXx.**

The next three days were uneventful, but Nari found ways to entertain herself. The Human World was fascinating in its own way, and she considered exploring but stuck close to Kazuma instead. When he was at home, she stretched out on the roof above his room and napped. When he left, she discretely followed after him. She enjoyed listening in on his classes, they were similar to hers in some ways, and she could tell that he was intelligent. The fact that he'd been able to keep up with his peers while fighting against demons proved that, but she could also tell that he was working hard to push himself even farther. It was admirable and gave her another reason to respect him.

"I know you can hear me, demon girl. When Kazuma leaves for school, I want you to come join me for a little talk." Shizuru's voice carried out of the open kitchen window, and Nari could hear her clearly because she'd been napping on the roof.

When Kazuma usually left to go to school, Shizuru left to go to work. Either she wasn't working today or she was going in at a later time. Nari could ignore the summons and follow after Kazuma anyway, but she respected Shizuru as well. It was clear that the siblings were close, which was something that Nari could understand. She couldn't imagine a life without her sister, and she knew that there was something special about a bond between siblings. So she waited for Kazuma to leave and then slipped into the apartment through the window that Shizuru had opened in the kitchen.

"You can just call me Nari," she said as Shizuru's eyes met hers. The older woman was sitting on the couch, with her arms and legs crossed, and Nari smiled as she was glared at.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you don't want to hurt my baby bro." Shizuru kept her tone even, but Nari could see barely contained anger in the woman's eyes.

"I don't want to hurt Kazuma," Nari said honestly. Shizuru dipped her chin just a little, and Nari took a few careful steps closer. When Shizuru didn't protest, she walked forward until she was standing directly in front of her.

"If he leaves with you, _if_ , will he be safe?" That question was a little harder to answer. Nari didn't want to harm Kazuma, and she knew that no one in her kingdom would want to hurt him either. Or, if anyone did, Eriko wouldn't allow it. If he left with her and they were unable to prevent war, there was a chance that he wouldn't be safe.

"I can't guarantee that for any of us. If he decides to come with me, I'll do everything in my power to keep him safe," Nari promised instead. Her King already told her that Kazuma would be her responsibility, and Nari would do whatever was necessary to keep him from being harmed. He'd earned that courtesy.

"I was going to say that you don't feel like you have all that much power, but it's hidden. Right?" Shizuru asked and quickly looked her over. Nari smiled and raised her arm so that her right fist was held in front of her face.

"Energy suppressors. It was the only way I could cross over." She wasn't sure if her demon energy was stronger than Kazuma's spirit energy, but she wasn't some pushover either.

"I don't want him to fight in a war." Shizuru's voice was quiet, and Nari slowly nodded at that before meeting Shizuru's eyes again.

"I don't want him to either." Actually, she didn't want anyone to fight in a war. She knew that if Mukuro and Yomi really did start a war over control of Demon World, Eriko would step in. Corinth had been kept separate from the rest of Demon World for over eight centuries, but Eriko knew that her kingdom would suffer if the rest of Demon World was plunged into war.

If Eriko fought, the rest of Nari's family would fight too. All of the people that Nari loved would join the fight, and there was no way that they would all survive. Nari knew that people died in wars, it was inevitable, and she didn't want to lose her family. Not if it could be avoided. She wished that she could leave Kazuma out of it, because he deserved to live a normal human life. Maybe, once this mess was over, he could do just that.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm okay with all of this, but I've learned to trust my instincts. And if you hurt him, or he gets hurt because of something you did, I'm sure Yusuke would avenge him." Nari had never met Raizen, but she'd met Mukuro twice. Mazoku demons were the highest class of demons, the strongest, so Nari knew that Yusuke's already impressive energy would only continue to grow. Not that he needed to be any stronger to defeat her in combat. She could admit that.

"I'm sure he would," Nari agreed. Shizuru looked her over again before nodding to herself, and Nari stepped back as Shizuru started to stand up.

"My instincts are telling me that you're okay, so stay here for the day. Kazuma will be home after his test, and I'll bring home dinner after my shift. Then we'll talk it out."

"Sounds good!" Nari called out as Shizuru left the room.

Once the apartment was empty, Nari turned in a full circle in the middle of the living room. She considered going up to the roof to continue napping, but Shizuru had given her permission to stay in the apartment. Sleeping on the roof wasn't comfortable, although it wasn't the least comfortable place she'd ever slept, but if she had the option of napping on a cushioned surface? Well, she wasn't about to turn that down. Napping on the couch would probably be more appropriate, but she was really missing her bed. She had a feeling that Shizuru would try to kill her if she invaded the woman's privacy, but Kazuma was the forgiving type.

Decision made, she started humming as she walked through the apartment. Kazuma's bedroom door was already cracked open, and she lightly nudged it with her toe. The door swung open, and she stuck just her head inside. It was clean, especially for a teenager's room, and the bed was even perfectly made. She wasn't going to mess it up; she was just gonna lay down for a quick nap, and she'd be up before Kazuma came home.

She sighed as her body relaxed against the mattress, because the soft material felt so much better on her aching back than the roof. Having her energy suppressed was really starting to become an annoyance, but she had a feeling that a nap on a nice comfy bed was just what she needed to rejuvenate her. So she snuggled in and closed her eyes, and she was just starting to drift off when something soft brushed against her arm. One eye peeked open to look down, and she smiled at the sight of orange and black fur.

"Hello there, little one," she whispered as the cat made itself comfortable. The little cat curled up on her stomach, and Nari closed her eyes as she reached down with one hand to lightly rub behind an ear. Her tail moved up to cover the cat's body, and her own purr sounded deep in her throat to match the cat's. Yes, it was definitely time for a quick nap.

 **.xXx.**

"Nari!" Kuwabara stumbled to a stop just inside his bedroom, and the girl sleeping on his bed slowly started to stir. The fluffy blonde tail draped over her stomach slipped to the side, but there was still a ball of fur on her stomach. "Eikichi!"

"Kazuma? I'm sorry, I must have been more tired than I realized. Shizuru gave me permission to stay here for the day, but I didn't mean to sleep for so long," Nari said quietly and then yawned. She was still lying stretched out on his bed, and Eikichi hadn't moved at all because Nari was absently rubbing behind one of her ears. "How was your test?"

"Huh?" Of all the questions he'd expected her to ask, that wasn't one of them. Dark eyes finally opened fully as she turned her head to look at him, and he realized that he was still standing awkwardly just past the doorway. He shouldn't feel so awkward in his own bedroom.

"Your test? The one you've been studying for? How'd it go?" At the reminder, Kuwabara reached up to rub his temples. He had a headache from staring at test after test today, but he felt pretty good about his chances.

"I think I did okay," he answered as he walked over to his desk. He tossed his bag on top of the desk before plopping down into his desk chair, and Nari stretched on the bed and twisted her head enough to keep looking at him. On her stomach, Eikichi shifted so that Nari could run her fingers over the length of the cat's spine. Both of them were lying in the patch of sunlight coming in through the window, and Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at Nari's obvious demon attributes.

"You can ask me stuff if you want. I don't mind," Nari said and smiled when his eyes widened. "You looked curious, and I have nothing to hide."

"What kind of demon are you?" he asked first. The ears on top of her head were the same color as her blonde hair, except for the tips which were white. Her fluffy tail was the same way. Light blonde with the tip of it a pure white color.

"Cat." She lightly scratched Eikichi with human-looking nails, not claws, and Eikichi started to purr under the attention. His cat normally didn't get along with strangers, but maybe Eikichi was okay with Nari because they were both cats.

"How old are you?" he asked next. He knew that demons aged differently, so she could be hundreds of years old for all he knew.

"Sixteen, last month."

"What?!" His shocked voice echoed in the room, and Nari laughed quietly as she smiled over at him. She was looking at him upside down though, so the smile looked like a frown.

"Yes, I just turned sixteen last month. Were you expecting me to be older?" It sounded like she was teasing him, but Kuwabara was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that she was the same age as him.

"What day last month?" It looked like she raised a brow at that question, but she answered him anyway.

"The twenty-second. Why?"

"Shoot. You're five days older than me then." She laughed quietly again as she started to get up, and Kuwabara noticed the way that she kept Eikichi carefully held against her as she moved. Once she was sitting on the side of the bed, Eikichi was settled carefully in her lap so that the cat could continue to nap and be petted. "Do demons grow up faster than humans?"

"Depends on the demon, I guess, but I don't think so. I'm just a teenager," Nari said and shrugged.

"Then why did your king send you here?" The king had to be older, especially if she'd put up a barrier centuries ago. So why send a teenager to…recruit him or whatever?

"I'll explain that after Shizuru gets here, so that I only have to go over everything once. The simple answer is that she trusts me, and she knows that I'm strong enough to keep myself safe. See these bracelets? They're energy suppressors, and that's why I feel like a D-Class. I'm actually a low A-Class," Nari finished with a small smile. An A-Class? That meant she was weaker than Urameshi, Kurama, and Hiei.

"Do humans have a class?" Nari's head tilted to the side, and he watched the way that one ear twitched as she studied him.

"There's energy equivalents, of course. Energy is energy. You don't know what class you are?" He'd never really thought about it, actually, because it didn't seem to matter. He knew what he was capable of, and that was good enough for him.

"It don't matter, because I'm done with fighting demons." Nari nodded at that, and he watched the way that her long tail moved to curl around Eikichi.

"I'm here because my King told me that this was important, that you are important, but I wish that you could be spared. I wish that you could have a normal life." Her words were spoken quietly, and she'd looked down at her lap as she spoke instead of over at him. So Kuwabara couldn't really see her face, but she'd sounded sad.

"What's a normal life for you?" Her head snapped up at that, and dark eyes met his. She looked surprised for a moment, but the look quickly faded as she smiled a little.

"I meditate first thing in the morning with one of my teachers, which he only agreed to because he said it was the only real quiet he got during the day. Then I spend my morning in classes with my sister. The classes are similar to yours, because my father wants us to be well-rounded. Well, he actually said that he wanted us to be better than everyone else, but I know that he meant that he wants us to have an education that not everyone is fortunate enough to have. Then, in the afternoons, we train. Sometimes just with our energy and sometimes with our weapons. I fight with a sword too." Nari paused to mime swinging a sword with one hand, and the way her arm moved through the air looked graceful.

"Sounds normal enough to me," Kuwabara shrugged. Classes and training, that was pretty much his usual routine too. He hadn't been training as much lately though.

"After training sessions, we're free to do as we wish. We don't really have curfews or anything like that, but we always tell our father before we leave and when we'll probably return. Neither of us leaves that often though. We love our home."

Kuwabara had several more questions that he wanted to ask, but he didn't get the chance because he could hear Shizuru calling for him. Nari whispered quiet words to Eikichi before shifting the cat onto Kuwabara's bed, and she stretched her arms above her head after standing up. Kuwabara heard a few quiet pops as she stretched, and she grinned over at him once she was done. Her eyes flicked over towards his doorway, and he sighed before getting to his feet. He led the way out of his room, and he could hear Nari's boots dragging across the carpeted floor behind him. They found Shizuru in the kitchen, and she looked up from setting out cartoons on their small kitchen table.

"So you stuck around," Shizuru said and looked at Nari.

"I did. Thank you for the invitation," Nari said quietly. Shizuru made a small humming sound and then turned around to get some plates from a cabinet, and Kuwabara hurried forward to get them some glasses.

Nari asked to help them with setting the table, but he and Shizuru both told her to just sit at the table. Guests shouldn't have to do any work. So Nari sighed and took a seat, and Shizuru set plates on the table while Kuwabara fixed them all something to drink. The table was quiet as they started to eat, but all three of them kept sneaking glances at each other as they ate. There was a tension to the silence, but it wasn't as bad as Kuwabara thought it would be. Shizuru didn't look angry, Nari wasn't being impatient or pushy, and Kuwabara was mostly just confused at that point. The food slowly started to run out though, and Shizuru was the one who broke the silence after it was clear that they were all done eating.

"Alright, let's figure this thing out," Shizuru said and leaned back in her chair. Nari dabbed at her mouth with a napkin before neatly folding it and placing it on her cleaned-off plate, and her dark eyes looked between Shizuru and him. She eventually settled her gaze on him though.

"You asked me earlier why my King sent me, and the answer is complicated. If you want, I will explain it to you the way that it was explained to me."

"Then start talking," Shizuru said with a pointed look. Kuwabara huffed and looked over at his sister for being so rude, but the angry tone didn't seem to bother Nari. She just nodded a little and placed her hands in her lap.

"It's very rare, but some demons are born as Seers. Beings that are able to see the past, present, and future. It's been several millennia since a Seer could accurately see the future, could see the future with absolute certainty. Today, most Seers can only see glimpses of the past and the present as it unfolds. A few Seers can see future possibilities, but only the possibilities."

"Your King is a psychic?" Shizuru asked. Kuwabara could hear the skepticism in his sister's tone, and he was feeling a little skeptic himself. Even with everything he'd seen and experienced. Getting a bad feeling was one thing, but actually seeing the future?

"No, of course not. Her closest advisor is a Seer, and her name is Tsubaki. She's only been able to see three future possibilities clearly. In the first possibility, Yusuke Urameshi inherits Tourin and manages to create a peace in Demon World. In the second possibility, he inherits Tourin but is unable to convince Mukuro and Yomi of a peaceful solution. In that possibility, Demon World is destroyed by a war that will bleed out into the other worlds. In the third possibility, Kazuma is able to stop the three kingdoms from declaring war after Yusuke inherits Tourin."

"How?" Kuwabara heard himself ask. If one possibility was peace and the other was war, then how was he supposed to stop a war in the third possibility?

"Are those the only three options?" Shizuru asked. Nari looked at both of them, like she was trying to decide which question to answer first, and her eyes settled on Shizuru.

"Those are the only three possibilities that Tsubaki was able to see clearly, which means that they're the most likely options." After that explanation, Nari took a quick breath and then looked over at him. "I'm not sure how. Tsubaki didn't tell me, and King Eriko said it wasn't important. They just said that you were the key to stopping the war if Yusuke failed."

"If Yusuke fails. Why do you want Kazuma to go if you might not even need him?" Kuwabara looked over at Shizuru after she asked it, because she had a good point.

"If Kazuma comes with me, the second possibility will become obsolete. He'll also be better prepared." That first part was directed at Shizuru and then Nari was looking over at him again. "You're not going to try to save a world that you don't care about. Tsubaki said that you'd need to see Demon World, need to understand it, in order to help us save it. But only if Yusuke fails. Our odds are just better if you come with me to Demon World."

"You're saying that even if Yusuke fails to make peace with the others, the war will be prevented as long as Kazuma's there? And if he stays here, there's the chance that a war will be started?" Shizuru sighed after asking the questions and then stood up, and Kuwabara and Nari both stayed completely still as she started gathering up the dirty dishes. Once she had them moved over to the sink with the water running, she cut her eyes over at Kuwabara.

"On it, sis!" he yelled and jumped up. He knew that look was telling him to wash the dishes, and he had a feeling that now wasn't the time to argue with Shizuru. So he started washing the dishes while Shizuru sat at the table across from Nari, and Kuwabara was happy about their kitchen being small for once because it meant that the kitchen table was right behind him.

"That about sums it up, yes. If he stays here, there's a fifty percent chance that a war will start. If he goes, there's no chance at a war and a fifty percent chance that he won't even have to talk his friends out of fighting one." Nari's tone was even, and Kuwabara could easily do that math. Too easily. If there was a chance that he could save his team from fighting each other in a war, he had to go.

"He deserves better than this." Shizuru didn't sound mad anymore. She actually sounded resigned, and Kuwabara felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. He hated upsetting his sister, but he hated fighting with her more. She knew him though and knew that he couldn't stand by when he could help.

"He does," Nari quietly agreed.

"He was going to get into a good school and then go to a good university. He was going to make something of himself." Shizuru still sounded resigned, and Kuwabara shuffled on his feet a little as he rinsed off a plate.

"Tsubaki says we'll know for sure in less than two years. Kazuma can still go to a good university. Doesn't Human World have the option of homeschooling? He can still do his high school work in Demon World. I'll personally transport his work back and forth. This doesn't have to disrupt the rest of his life," Nari said quickly. So, he was gonna have to prepare for a possible peace treaty talk and still do homework?

"He still has a week of school left, and I'll need another week to arrange for homeschooling. Can you wait that long?" Man, they were really talking about him like he wasn't standing right next to them!

"Of course. It's the least that I can do for him. In the meantime, I would like to return home to tell my King of his decision. If he's decided, that is?" Finally, a question directed at him! Kuwabara placed the last glass in the dish drainer and turned around while drying his hands, and the two people still sitting at the kitchen table looked up at him expectantly. He knew that Shizuru didn't want him to go, a part of him didn't want to go, but he'd never forgive himself if he stayed here and a war happened because of it.

"Yeah, I can't let those punks have all the fun," he said and cracked a smile. Shizuru huffed, but he could tell that she was fighting down a small smile. Nari was smiling outright, and she quietly slid her chair back and got to her feet.

"I'll go give my King the good news and return in two weeks. If that's okay?" Nari asked and looked between them again.

"See you in two weeks, demon girl," Shizuru said first.

"See you in two weeks, Nari," Kuwabara said and smiled. Nari returned the look and then waved to them both, and Kuwabara leaned to the side to watch her walk into the living room and then slip out of the window. He sighed as he turned back to look at the table, and Shizuru was already looking up at him.

"We are going to have a very long talk about this, tomorrow. Right now, sit down and go over your tests for me." Kuwabara groaned as he lowered himself back into his chair, but it was partly for show at this point. Because he was going to miss this.

 **.xXx.**

It took Nari what felt like forever to climb the stairs up the first peak of Mount Jirou, and she sighed a little once she reached the top. The throne, which was in front of the stairs, was empty. It was getting late in the day so she shouldn't be surprised that the King was gone for the day, but she'd been excited to give the good news. Instead of dwelling on it though, she walked around the side of the throne and continued into the temple behind it. A few people were inside, either waiting to speak to the King the next day or simply seeking shelter, and she smiled to a few as she hurried past. She slipped out of the back of the temple and made her way towards the bridge, and her head tipped back so that she could see the entirety of the palace.

She loved the palace. She knew every inch of it, from the tallest tower to the lower levels built under the plateaued peak. The sound of her boots echoed on the stone bridge as she hurried towards her destination, and it took everything in her not to break out into a run. She wanted to keep her breathing even. It didn't take her long to reach the end of the bridge and then the front door of the palace, but it felt like it took a lifetime. She slipped inside of the palace and tilted her head to the side to listen, and she could hear loud voices coming from the kitchen. She started in that direction, and it wasn't long before she could make out what was being said.

"Four days, Eriko! My little girl has been gone for four days!" a deep voice yelled.

"Ah, come on, Papa. Nari can take care of herself," a different voice said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Nari could tell that there was a situation, because energy was leaking out of the kitchen. As well as two very distinct laughs.

"It had to be Nari, which we've already discussed, so quit your bitching!" That voice was full of authority, but Nari could hear a snort after the words.

"Don't be like that, Auntie. He's just worried, right?" The tentative question caused the two sets of quiet laughter to upgrade to loud roars of laughter instead, and Nari heard the familiar sound of metal crashing against stone. Her father just threw a metal cup at someone and missed, causing the cup to hit the stone wall instead.

"Dammit, Tsubaki! This is all your fault! And if you don't quit laughin', Celosia, I'm gonna rip your throat out!"

"We've talked about this, Papa. You need to control your temper better," Nari said as she stepped into the kitchen. All five occupants were standing around the bar, and all of them were sitting on stools except for her father.

"There's my girl!" Nari locked her knees just as her father reached her, but it didn't do any good because her feet popped off the floor as he swept her up into his arms. Nari wasn't very tall, only a couple of inches over five feet, and her father was well over six feet tall. He laughed as he spun them around the room, and Nari could hear the others laughing at the display.

"Put her down, you idiot! The rest of us wanna say hello too!" As soon as Nari was back on her feet, another pair of arms wrapped tight around her. A temple knocked gently against the side of her head, but Nari was pulled away before she could say anything.

"We missed ya, kid!" Celosia yelled into her ear as she was pulled into the woman's side.

"I didn't because I knew you were just fine," Tsubaki said from Nari's other side. She was standing between the two women, and she looked back and forth between them. Tsubaki was the same height as her, so meeting her eyes was quite easy. Celosia was a few inches taller, so she had to lift her chin to meet her shining golden eyes.

"Quit hoggin' my twin, you old hags!" Nari was pulled back as yet another pair of arms locked around her waist, and she quickly twisted around to wrap her arms around her twin's shoulders. They were the exact same height, but Nari was just a little bit taller in her boots.

"Now that we've all said hello, we've got business to discuss. What was his answer, Nari?" The arms around her waist loosened, and Nari twisted around so that she could face her King. It wasn't easy to step away from her twin, even though they'd only been separated for a few days, but she took several steps forward until she was standing directly in front of her King.

"He'll be here in two weeks," Nari answered and fought down a smile. Her King's expression didn't change at all, and Nari worried for a moment that she'd messed up. Was she supposed to bring him back with her immediately? Or was she not supposed to come back until he was with her?

"I knew you could do it, sweet girl." The blank expression shifted into a wide smile, and Nari felt her own smile stretching her face as Eriko opened her arms. "Now come give Auntie a real hug."

"I missed you, Aunt Eri," she whispered after strong arms wrapped tight around her middle. She had a feeling that Auntie would have held onto her for longer if hands hadn't pulled her back, and Auntie's face was twisted in a pout as Nari was swung up into the air until Papa was holding her bridal style. "I missed you too, Papa."

"Told ya she could do it, Makoto," Celosia drawled from across the room.

"I knew she could do it! But a good father always worries about his little girl," Papa said and leaned down to brush his cheek against the top of her head. It was like being six instead of sixteen. She could hear Auntie laughing, and Nari relaxed in Papa's arms.

Nari knew that Makoto and Eriko weren't her blood relatives. She knew that Eriko was Makoto's older sister, which meant that Eriko was her adoptive aunt. The others in the palace had tried to get the twins to call the King Aunt Eri when they were learning to talk, but Nari's twin had combined the two words into Auntie and the name had stuck. While the rest of Corinth referred to her as King Eriko, Nari knew the older woman as Auntie. Makoto was her adoptive father though, and she couldn't imagine referring to the older cat demon as anything but Papa.

"Geeze, I'm really starting to feel like a neglected child over here." Nari could hear the pout in her twin's voice as Papa spun around, with Nari still held in his arms, and Nari started laughing at the sight. Her twin was being held in the same bridal style way by Auntie, which was a little funny since they were a few inches taller than their adoptive aunt.

"Don't worry, you're still my favorite," Auntie teased and smacked a kiss right between two pointed ears. Nari laughed along with Tsubaki and Celosia as Papa gasped, as loudly and dramatically as possible. It felt so good to be home, even after Papa yelled loud enough to make her ears ring.

"Don't listen to her! Papa loves you both equally, Koto!"

* * *

 **Ending Note:** Yes, more OCs. I'll go ahead and warn people now, there's going to be quite a few OCs in this story. Mostly because this story is going to revolve around Eriko's life, so there's going to be a lot of new characters. There's also going to be a lot of canon characters too, weaved in next to the new characters. Like Nari and Koto! For anyone who is confused, Nari and Koto are Makoto's adopted twin daughters.

I promise, Eriko's backstory is going to be revealed very soon! I didn't want to just write it out as flashbacks or as the beginning of the story though, so I'm going to do a little something different. Having Kuwabara and Nari in the story is very important, because I'm going to use them to tell Eriko's story in the next several chapters. Also, I just really love Kuwabara and wanted him in Demon World.

 **SakiHanajima1:** Haha, yep! You got to read the first chapter of this story early. Actually, without you, this story never would have been posted so…THANK YOU! Eriko is more badass than I could ever be, and yes! I'm not going to leave her completely hand-less. Makoto! I already loved the name and then you used it in your story. I was going to change it, but I decided to keep it because I do love the name. I promise that I'll reveal the answers to everything! Eventually. I hope you liked the update, and thank you for the review!

 **backoff22:** I'm glad you're liking it so far! I haven't read any Raizen/OC stories either, but I love Raizen so I decided to write this anyway. (Also, feel free to send me messages and yell at me for falling so behind on "Not Quite Myself." I'll try to get caught up soon!) Thank you for the review!

 **shirohara:** Eriko's backstory will be explained really soon, I promise. She's pretty old, so it's going to be a long story. Thank you for the review!


	4. Honesty Is A Virtue

**Author's Note:** I've had a really rough month. I won't go into details, but I've been dealing with a lot of stuff lately so I haven't been able to write much at all. I hope that I'll be able to keep updating this story regularly, and get back to updating my other stories, but there might be a small hiatus until things settle.

Now, enough of the sad stuff. Thank you to everyone reading, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

 **Post Date:** 29 November 2017

 **Word Count:** 6745

* * *

 **Chapter Four  
** **Honesty Is A Virtue**

 **1991 March**

"Alright, Nari, now give me the real details!" At Nari's blank look, Koto continued. "You know, the real details? About what you've been up to in Human World?"

"But I just told everyone everything over dinner," Nari pointed out. After everyone settled down, Celosia and Koto both fixed them all something to eat. Nari gave her full report in between bites, despite eating earlier with the Kuwabaras, because all of the running and climbing a mountain had made her hungry all over again. She hadn't left out any details, because she'd been talking to both her Auntie and her King.

"You seriously just followed that lug around all day?! You didn't do anything fun?!" Koto's lighter aqua eyes were wide in shock, and Nari felt the corners of her lips pulling down at her twin's shocked tone.

"Don't call him that! Kazuma is a great guy! Not a lug!" Nari quickly defended. Koto's eyes got a special gleam in them, and Nari was suddenly glad that the two of them were in her room instead of still sitting in the kitchen with the others. Nothing good ever came from her twin's gleeful look, especially when paired with an extra wide smile.

"A great guy, huh? You crushin' on that giant human?" Koto asked and lightly poked at the exposed part of Nari's bicep. Nari was quick to slap at Koto's hand, which only made her sister laugh before dropping to sprawl sideways across Nari's bed. After a moment, Nari sighed and kicked off her boots before falling onto the bed next to Koto.

"I'm not crushing on him. It's just…he's been through a lot, and he's only human. He shouldn't have to deal with all of this." Nari let her head fall to the side, and Koto turned so that their eyes could lock. She'd been prepared for her sister to tease her some more, but Koto actually looked completely serious for once.

"No, he shouldn't, but we've both seen how strong he is. He'll be just fine." Koto held the serious look for another moment and then grinned mischievously again while lightly nudging Nari in the side with an elbow. "Especially with you keeping a _close_ eye on him."

"Oh, shut up! I'm not as boy crazy as you!" Nari shot back. To everyone else, she was the quiet and more thoughtful one out of the two of them. Only Koto could rile her up with one carefully crafted sentence and a simple facial expression.

"I am not boy crazy!" Koto yelled without really raising her voice, because they both knew that Papa had a kind of sixth sense when it came to them talking about anything that even hinted at them growing up. Nari rolled her eyes instead of arguing back and then turned so that she was looking up at the ceiling instead.

"I didn't tell them how I really knew Auntie. Or about you," Nari admitted in a quiet voice. She definitely wasn't ashamed of her aunt or her sister, but both of the Kuwabaras had seen Koto during the Dark Tournament. More importantly, they'd both _heard_ Koto during the tournament. Her sister had just been doing her job, but she'd made a few comments that had upset the humans. Nari knew that Koto respected Team Urameshi at the end, but she wasn't sure if either of the Kuwabaras knew that.

"You forgot to mention that you're royalty?" Koto teased. They lived in the palace, they called the King Auntie, and they called the King's second and Corinth's general Papa. They weren't really treated as royalty, but they were jokingly called _princess_ from time to time by the palace's inhabitants.

"It never really came up." That much was true. Kazuma never asked about her family, so she'd never brought it up.

"I know this is your big mission and everything, but can I give you a piece of advice?"

"Always," Nari answered automatically. Her and Koto seemed like polar opposites at times, but there was no one that Nari trusted more than her twin.

"Tell the big lu—I mean, tell Kuwabara about who you really are before you bring him here. He seems like the kind of guy who appreciates honesty and stuff like that." Koto's tone was easy and light, and Nari lightly bit on her bottom lip as she thought the words over. She hadn't exactly lied, but she had purposefully left details out. So that was lying by omission. Koto was also right about Kazuma being the more honorable type that valued honesty. She'd tell him the truth before they left Human World.

"I'll take your advice under consideration. Now tell me what happened while I was away."

Koto immediately launched into a story about Papa and Auntie fighting right after Auntie told them where Nari had gone, and why, so Nari now knew why the West Tower was under construction. Papa and Auntie rarely actually fought, physically at least, but building structures did seem to get destroyed whenever they really did fight. Nari wasn't even surprised when Koto told her that everyone else just stood back and watched them go at it, because getting between the two of them never ended well. Still, it was comforting to know that nothing had changed during her brief absence. Home was still…home.

 **Two Weeks Later**

"I don't like this," Papa huffed as he looked down at her. He was standing between Koto and Auntie, which looked a little funny since he was well over a foot taller than both of them, and Nari fought down a smile as she looked at the three people who made up her family. Well, she considered everyone who lived in the palace as family, but these three were _more_ than that. Koto was her other half, and Papa and Auntie saved them and then raised them as if they were blood.

"I'm coming right back," Nari promised and smiled gently up at him. She knew that most demons thought her father was callous, which he could be in certain situations, but she knew him as someone who loved her and worried about her constantly. (He probably worried about Koto more though. Nari's twin definitely caused him to pull at his hair more often than Nari did anyway.)

"You sayin' you don't trust her?" Auntie asked and nudged Papa's side with an elbow.

"I'm sayin' I don't trust the fuckers she might run into on _your_ mission." Nari tried not to fidget as Auntie's eyes brightened into a more red color, but her tail did twitch a little when she realized that Papa's eyes were growing darker and that the mountain under her feet was starting to shake.

"Tsubaki said it had to be her," Auntie growled. The mountain shook hard enough to make Nari stumble, and she raised a brow as Koto's eyes met hers. Koto mirrored the action, so Nari thinned her lips and narrowed her eyes just a little. Koto huffed and rolled her eyes, and Nari crossed her arms as Koto poked the back of Papa's shoulder. Because Papa had turned to fully face Auntie as they started to square off.

"So, would now be a bad time to tell you that my training has been suspended for a week or until it's proven that I wasn't the one who burned down the training shed?" Koto asked. Nari bit the inside of her lip as Papa blinked in confusion before turning around to fully face Koto instead, and she felt the little bit of tension in her muscles easing as she realized that the mountain was still. The air didn't feel quite as hot either.

"That was you?" Papa asked.

"Technically, they never proved that I did it either," Koto quickly pointed out. Auntie was smiling just a little, and Papa was still just looking down at Koto in confusion.

"But I've been rebuilding that shed," Papa said and pointed at his own face.

"Which is very admirable given your usual lazy attitude. Nari, now would be the time to run," Koto said loudly out of the corner of her mouth.

"Right! See you in a few days!" Nari called out before turning on her heel and jumping.

"Wait! Two days, or I'm comin' after ya!" Papa called after her. She could hear faint yelling after that, but she couldn't tell if Koto was being lectured or praised. With their father, either option was possible. Probably a lecture though if he'd actually been rebuilding whatever Koto had burned down.

" _Thank you, Koto,"_ Nari thought with a smile as she reached the bottom of the mountain. Her twin had provided the perfect distraction, and now it was time for her to return to Human World.

 **.xXx.**

Nari stopped next to the apartment building and let her head fall back as she sucked in a few deep breaths, and her ears twitched as she focused on the top apartment. She could hear water running in the kitchen, and she knew that was Shizuru. The woman was humming quietly under her breath while she washed up. Kazuma was in his room; Nari could hear the quiet creak of his desk chair, and his window was open. He was either being thoughtful or neglectful. Either way, it made her life a little bit easier. After one last deep breath, she bent her knees and then pushed most of her strength into her legs.

"Oh, hey, Nari," Kazuma said quietly as she pulled herself through his window. She bounced against his mattress for a moment and then scooted to the edge, and Kazuma placed another book into his schoolbag before turning around to face her.

"Hello again, Kazuma," she said with a small smile. Her eyes flicked over towards his closet, where she could see two small packed bags. It looked like he was ready to go. She looked back over at him as she got to her feet, and she tried not to fidget as his eyes rose to meet hers. "Do you have any questions?"

"Your king, what kind of demon is she?" She hadn't really been expecting that, and her tail moved up to slowly curl around her waist as she answered.

"She's a cat demon, like me, but she's also an elemental. It's rare for an animal demon to also be an elemental without having an elemental parent, but she's a full cat demon with the power to create fire." It was rare, but it wasn't unheard of. Still, Auntie's fire was…chaotic. She could control it, but Auntie had told her once that she didn't have the same kind of control that a true elemental demon had.

"Fire, huh?" Kazuma mumbled to himself. Maybe he was thinking about Hiei? Nari had caught glimpses of the fire demon and she'd seen him fight during the Dark Tournament, and she was impressed by his strength. His personality left a lot to be desired though.

"Yes. Her brother is the same way. A full cat demon, but he can control earth." Papa's power was just as destructive as Auntie's, more so since he was easier to anger. Speaking of Papa, it was time for Nari to come clean. "He's my father."

"The king's brother is your father? The king is your aunt?!" Kazuma's eyes were wide as he looked up at her now, and Nari resisted the urge to bite her bottom lip as she slowly nodded.

"Papa adopted us, actually, after our parents were killed. So the king is actually my adoptive aunt, but I love them both as if they were blood family. So does my twin. Who's Koto." She said her twin's name slowly, and she watched as Kazuma recognized the name. He groaned before dropping his face into his hands, and Nari finally caved and lightly bit her bottom lip as she watched the tense line of Kazuma's shoulders.

"Crazy announcer Koto?" Kazuma asked after a moment. Nari winced a little at the description, even though Koto had been called worse during the tournament and after.

"She was doing what she was told, and she rooted for your team at the end." Most of the demons had been rooting for Team Urameshi at the end, because the other team had been trying to kill them all. Probably would have killed them all if it hadn't been for Team Urameshi. Kazuma snorted a little at that, probably thinking along the same lines as her, and then slumped back in his desk chair.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Kazuma asked.

"I'm the King's niece, and Koto is my twin sister. Nope, that's everything," Nari said and smiled. Kazuma huffed as he looked at her, but she could see something shifting in his eyes.

"Koto's your twin? So she's the same age as us? And she still announced at the Dark Tournament?" Kazuma looked both shocked and a little worried, and Nari bit down on her growing smile before answering.

"Yes. Papa wasn't too happy about her standing in the ring while demons tried to kill each other, but Koto was able to convince him that she could take care of herself. Of course, we had to wear energy suppressors while we were there so she was in danger most of the time. Koto's never been the type to run away from danger though." Nari loved her twin, more than anyone else in the world, but she worried about her constantly.

"So, you live in the palace with the king?" Kazuma looked a little more relaxed now, and Nari was glad that she'd told him the truth before they left. She had a feeling that him finding out after reaching the palace wouldn't have gone over quite as well.

"I do. Me, Koto, my father, King Eriko, and four others. You'll meet them." For the past two weeks, Auntie had been preparing her for Kazuma's arrival. So Nari knew what she had to do after they got back home, and she knew that it'd be a day or two before Kazuma met the palace's inhabitants. By the time he met them though, he'd know everything about them.

"All demons, I'm guessing," Kazuma mumbled. She knew it must be strange to him, being asked to go to a completely different world. One where humans rarely survived.

"They're good demons though, if that helps?" Nari knew that there were many demons that hated humans, she knew that there were horrible demons out there, but humans weren't perfect either.

"Yeah, it helps," Kazuma said with a quiet laugh. Nari smiled as she took another look around the room and rocked back on her heels, and it looked like Kazuma had been waiting for her. So he hadn't changed his mind or doubted his decision, not that she thought he would. Kazuma wasn't the type of person to go back on his word.

"Ready to go talk to Shizuru? I promised the King we'd be back soon," Nari said and looked back at Kazuma. He sighed before pushing himself to his feet, and Nari had to tip her head back to keep their eyes locked.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

 **.xXx.**

"We're almost there!" Nari yelled and looked over her shoulder. Kuwabara blinked against the wind and looked straight ahead, but he could only see more rocky terrain under them.

"I don't see nothin'!" he yelled back.

"Just wait for it!"

They left his house somewhere around lunchtime, after Nari spent half an hour memorizing Shizuru's instructions about his schoolwork. His work had to be turned in every two weeks, and he'd have to show up in person to take his midterms and finals. Nari promised to drop off all of his work and to make sure that he didn't miss his tests, and she'd promised that her king didn't want Kuwabara to fall behind on his studies either. (Her king, who was actually her aunt. Kuwabara was still a little shocked about that, but not nearly as shocked about finding out that Nari was Koto's twin. He couldn't really see the resemblance.) Then, after Nari memorized everything and promised Shizuru for a third time, his big sis had put him in a headlock and forced him to make all the same promises. Which he'd already done.

After Shizuru let them both go, with one last reminder to Nari that the little demon would have to face her wrath if anything happened to Kuwabara, Nari led him to a portal that connected the two worlds. Nari was able to slip through because of her energy suppressors, and he was able to get through because he was human. They finally crossed over, and Nari had let him take everything in before they started towards the west. Apparently, the portal opened up along Alaric's barrier, in the south. Looking up at the sky had been…weird. He remembered some of how Demon World looked from when they chased after Sensui, but he hadn't spent a lot of time dwelling over how it looked. Which was a good thing, because the red sky was freaky looking.

When he told Nari that he was ready to go, she'd smiled up at him and then let out a sharp whistle. The large boulder to their left had moved, and Kuwabara had nearly toppled over when he realized that it wasn't a boulder after all. It had actually been a really big dark blue dragon, with scales and wings, and Nari had lightly petted its snout while introducing them. The dragon's name was Bunny, and Nari had blushed when she admitted to naming him when she was four. She said that without the dragon, it'd take them about two days to get to Corinth. With the dragon, it would only take a day and they wouldn't have to tire themselves out running.

Somehow, they'd both been able to nap while riding on the dragon's back. Kuwabara did fine with everything, as long as he didn't look down. He wasn't exactly afraid of heights, but the large height combined with the speed they were traveling at? Falling wasn't something that he wanted. The sun had been up for a few hours though, the sun was about the same size as the one in Human World but was a dark orange color, and everything under them still looked the same.

"Still don't see nothin'!" Kuwabara yelled. He heard Nari laugh and then her hand popped up over the line of her shoulder. She crooked one finger to ask him to lean forward, and Kuwabara carefully scooted forwards until he could look over her shoulder. He could also hear her better, even though the wind around them was still loud.

"Only a few people can cross the barrier, and I'm one of the few! It takes a combination of blood, energy, and the magic words!" Nari explained as she raised her hand to her mouth.

"Magic words?!" Kuwabara could hear the doubt in his own voice, and Nari laughed a little before biting down on her left index finger with a sharp canine. Kuwabara could see a streak of blood as she lifted her hand in the air, and she held her bloody finger out away from them. The green bracelet on her wrist was gone, and he could feel her energy starting to rise.

" _Pao Eisodo!"_ The air around them turned bright red and seemed to shimmer, and Kuwabara was just about to ask what the hell was going on when the redness disappeared. He could finally _see_ , so they must have passed through the barrier. Before, he had only been able to see the gray rocky flat terrain of Alaric. Now he could see several small mountains breaking up the landscape, several small towns and villages, and even a few green forests.

"Magic words, right," he mumbled as he looked around. The barrier kept people from being able to see any of Corinth, that was good to know.

"Welcome to Corinth! See that up there?" Nari used her still bloody finger to point way up ahead of them, but Kuwabara could easily see the tallest mountain in the distance. "That's Mount Jirou! Where the palace is!"

The land under them seemed to blur as the dragon picked up speed, and Nari cleaned her finger off on her shorts before looking over her shoulder to smile at him. She'd seemed a little tense when they woke up, but she looked completely relaxed now. Maybe because she was almost home? The dragon started flying closer to the ground as they got closer to the mountain where the palace was, until Kuwabara could almost reach out and touch the tops of some trees. The dragon landed on the edge of a small village at the base of the mountain, and Kuwabara followed Nari off the dragon's back a few moments later.

"Lady Nari! So good to see you back so soon!" a large demon called out. The guy had to be nearly seven feet tall, and the horns on top of his head looked to be about as long as Kuwabara's arms. Nari smiled up at him like they were old friends though, so Kuwabara stayed calm as he gathered up his few bags.

"It's good to be back, Akifumi! Will you take care of Bunny for me? I don't want to keep King Eriko waiting," Nari said with a small smile. The large demon smiled as well while bowing, and Kuwabara realized that Nari was blushing a little as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. So, she really was royalty. Good to know.

"Of course, my lady. Give the King my regards."

"Always," Nari said as Akifumi led the dragon away. Once they were gone, she turned around and smiled up at Kuwabara. "Time to climb the mountain. I hope you don't mind?"

"Nah, I need to stretch my legs anyway," Kuwabara answered and smiled down at her. He still wasn't sure what to think about everything, but he liked Nari. She'd been nice to him so far.

He followed Nari to the base of the mountain, where a very long and very steep set of stairs had been carved into the side. Kuwabara couldn't even really see the top of the mountain from where they were standing, and he already knew that he was going to be tired by the time they reached the top. There was no point in complaining though. He just needed to suck it up and start climbing! Nari went up first, and Kuwabara adjusted his bags before following up after her.

A little over two hours later, they finally reached the top. Sort of. They were technically at the top of the mountain, but there were a couple of people in front of them. Well, there were a couple of demons in front of them. Kuwabara could see over a few of them, but he couldn't really see why they were waiting in line because the steps were really steep. He could hear echoing laughter though, so the line wasn't for anything too bad. Nari was on the step ahead of him, but the steepness of the stairs only made their eyes nearly level instead of making her taller than him. She turned around once they came to a stop, and her dark eyes seemed a little brighter as she crossed her arms and smiled at him.

"King Eriko meets with anyone who needs to speak with her, but it shouldn't take too long," Nari explained.

"She makes people climb a mountain to talk to her?" He was sure that most demons probably didn't have any problems climbing a mountain, but it had to still be difficult for some of them.

"Not really, no, but it's an option for anyone that wants to speak to her. Most of the towns and villages elect someone to come speak for them, but King Eriko doesn't spend every day on the throne. She only sits on the throne for six months every other year. During the other times, she travels from town to town and talks to people then. She chooses two others to stay here to meet with everyone when she's gone." Okay, so the king didn't stay on the throne all the time.

"Why two people?" Kuwabara wasn't much of a politician, but he thought kings would enjoy being in power. It seemed a little odd that she would just skip out for a year and a half, and that she'd leave two people in control while she was gone. It was kinda cool that she visited the towns though.

"To keep things fair, and we have ways to contact her if we really need her," Nari said and then turned around so that they could move up a few steps.

Twenty minutes later, Nari and Kuwabara were next in line. They were at the top of the staircase, finally on top of the flat mountain peak, so Kuwabara could see everything. Four small demons were sitting in front of the throne as they talked quietly to the king, who Kuwabara could finally see clearly. He could see everything clearly, and his eyes kept getting drawn to the throne itself. It looked like the mountain had been scooped out a little so that the throne was situated in a groove, and the throne was shaped like a giant chair. A giant chair made entirely out of bones. Some of the bones were huge, but others looked normal sized. Maybe King Eriko wasn't a bad king, but she was sitting on a throne made out of bones and that was kinda creepy.

"Who's that next to her?" Kuwabara asked quietly. Nari looked over her shoulder for a second, looked out in front of her, and then turned back to meet Kuwabara's eyes over her shoulder.

"That's Tsubaki. She normally sits with the King during her meetings. She's one of the King's best advisors," Nari answered. Kuwabara looked in front of him again at the woman sitting next to the throne. She didn't have a chair. Instead, she was sitting on a large cushion next to the throne. She looked like she was the same height as Nari, but the top of her head barely reached the arm of the throne. Her long black hair was held up in two pigtails, and she looked completely human from a distance. Kuwabara couldn't see any obvious demon characteristics anyway. She was only wearing a black skirt and a thin long-sleeved red shirt, and he didn't see any fluffy ears or a tail of some kind.

"Tsubaki…the Seer?" He remembered Nari telling him and Shizuru about the Seer, because that was a conversation he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. The Seer was the one who thought he'd be able to stop a war.

"The very one. Don't be surprised if King Eriko calls her the Oracle though. That's what she likes to call Tsubaki," Nari said and smiled over at him. Kuwabara hummed and didn't look away. The king hadn't looked away from the demons in front of her, and she looked completely focused as she listened to them speak. Which meant that Kuwabara could really study her without her staring back at him.

The king…wasn't what he'd been expecting. He wasn't sure what to expect, not really, but he thought she'd look more intimidating. She looked small, especially sitting on that massive throne. Her brown hair was held back in a short ponytail, but short bangs hung down between her eyes and down the side of her face. She was short and looked thin, and her skin was pale. She didn't have fluffy ears on top of her head, but a fluffy tail the same color as her hair was wrapped around her waist. She was wearing black tights that stopped halfway down her calves, and the white shirt she was wearing was sleeveless and looked loose. He could see a yellow cloth belt wrapped around her waist under her tail, and she was wearing some kind of necklace around the base of her throat. Her feet were bare and were crossed under her, which was probably a good thing because he didn't think her feet would be able to reach the ground.

"Nari! Come introduce us to our new guest!" the king called out. The demons that had been sitting in front of her were gone, and Kuwabara could see their outlines entering the large building behind the throne. Nari must have noticed what he was looking at, because she quietly explained as they walked towards the throne.

"If visitors are too tired to start back home, they're welcome to rest here for the night. The palace is on the peak behind this one." Kuwabara hummed a little to let her know that he'd heard her, but he didn't say anything because they'd stepped up in front of the throne.

"He's quite tall for a human," the woman next to the throne said. Kuwabara looked down at her, and pale green eyes locked with his as she smiled. The smile wasn't cruel, but it wasn't exactly comforting either.

"Everyone looks tall to me. Even you, Tsubaki," the king said and looked over the side of her throne. So he was right about her being short. She even looked like she might be shorter than Nari. Closer to Yukina's height, maybe, which would make her a couple of inches under five feet.

"Then why am I the one with a crick in my neck?" Tsubaki grumbled. The king laughed as she slumped back in her throne, and she raised her chin as she looked him over. While she was sizing him up, Kuwabara quickly took in the few details he'd missed. Her eyes were the same dark brown color as her hair and tail, but the color looked like it was bordering between brown and red. The necklace was actually a metal collar, and there was an actual silver padlock at the center of the collar. Below that, he could see the top of a thick dark pink scar that started at the dip between her collarbones and disappeared into the vee of her shirt.

"He is tall. You didn't tell me he was tall, Nari," the king said and looked at where Nari was standing next to him.

"Sorry, my king. I didn't think his height was important." Did Nari always address her aunt like that? Or just when she was on official business?

"You're right, of course. Thank you for coming, Kazuma Kuwabara. I am Eriko Arakawa, and this is Tsubaki Himura. We are both honored to meet you," the king said and bowed her head. Next to her, Tsubaki did the same. Kuwabara waited for them both to straighten up and then he met the king's eyes.

"It's not like I really had a choice, did I?" The king smiled as she leaned forward and braced her elbows against her knees, and Kuwabara noticed that she was wearing one earring. In her left ear. Looked like a…small finger bone? What was with this woman and bones?

"There's always a choice, and you chose to come here. Thank you for that." She seemed completely sincere, and Kuwabara felt some of the tension in his shoulders ease.

"Well, I'm here. So now what?" Tsubaki laughed a little, and the king grinned so wide that he could see the sharp points of her canines.

"I told you that you'd like him," Tsubaki said and glanced over at the king.

"Yeah, and you're never wrong. I know," the king said while looking down at Tsubaki. Then she straightened up and met Kuwabara's eyes. "I thought about easing you in, maybe let you get to know the others before telling all, but Tsubaki said it'd be better to tell everything from the get-go. Not about the war to come, but about us. About who we are and how we came to be here."

"What's so important about me having a history lesson on you?" Kuwabara was there just in case his friends decided to go to war with each other, so why did it matter if he knew all about Eriko and the others that she lived with?

"Because you'll never care about any of us if you don't know us, and you can't save us if you don't care about us," Tsubaki said quietly.

"Plus, it's a really good story." The king's grin seemed a little sharper than before, and her eyes were starting to look a little more red.

"If you say so," Kuwabara mumbled. He wasn't sure what he expected his first meeting with the king to go like, but it definitely wasn't this.

"Nari, take him to the palace. Straight to the archives." Nari must have made some kind of facial expression, because the king sighed and ran a hand over her face. "Your father and I might have accidentally destroyed the hallway where the guest rooms are, so Isamu is making up a new room for our guest. So start in the archives. Lunch is already there waiting for you, and I'll have someone bring you two dinner."

"What about Papa and Koto?" Oh yeah, Kuwabara totally forgot that he was going to be living with Koto for a while. That was going to take some getting used to.

"Right now, they're both training the army to keep them out of the house. I'll make sure they don't bother you later." Nari straightened up and walked forward, and Kuwabara watched as the king leaned forward and held her hands out.

"It's good to have you home, sweet girl," the king said quietly.

"I'm happy to be home, Auntie." So Nari didn't always call her king, that was comforting. The king let Nari's hands go, and Nari moved to stand next to the throne. Then the king's eyes were on Kuwabara again.

"Nari will see to it that you have everything you need. While you're here, she's the one that you need to go to if you have any questions or if you need anything." He nodded and started to follow after Nari, but the king's voice made him pause after he was standing next to the throne. "Oh, and Kuwabara?"

"King Eriko?" She smiled a little as she looked up at him, and he couldn't get over how young she looked. He knew that she had to be a few centuries old, but she didn't look any older than Shizuru.

"While you're here, please try to think of Corinth as home. Nari might be the one responsible for you while you're here, but we're all happy that you decided to come. And if anyone bothers you, tell me directly and I'll handle it."

"You got it," he said and then added on, "King Eriko."

"Just call me Eriko," she said and waved a hand. Nari smiled up at him as he turned his head around to face forward, and he jumped a little as she reached forward and loosely wrapped her fingers around his wrist.

"We'll see you later!" Nari called out as she pulled him along behind her.

"I'll make sure you get dinner!" the king yelled.

"And make sure you tell him the real stories! Not the fairytales!" Tsubaki added.

"So, what did you think?" Nari asked him once they were away from the throne. They were walking through the building behind the throne now, and a few demons were seated around the open space. They were talking to the other demons around them and didn't really pay them any attention, so Kuwabara thought over his answer as he trailed along behind Nari.

"She was different than I expected. If she hadn't been sitting on a throne, I wouldn't have ever guessed that she was a king," he said honestly. He knew she had to be strong, but she hadn't acted tough and he hadn't been able to feel her power. She'd seemed pretty nice too.

"She's never been the type to flaunt her title," Nari said as they walked out of the back of the building. There was a large stone bridge at the edge of the mountain peak, and he could see a larger building on the other mountain peak. "That's the palace."

"That's where you live?" That place was huge! He was definitely going to get lost at least twice.

"Eight of us live inside. Trust me, you'll be thankful for the space after a few days," Nari said with a quiet laugh. She was still holding onto his wrist and pulling him along behind her across the bridge, and he couldn't take his eyes off the palace that was getting bigger as they got closer.

"Oh yeah. Do your father and aunt fight like that all the time?" Eriko said that they destroyed an entire hallway, which was probably a lot of property going by the size of the palace.

"Not all the time, but Papa was worried about me going off on my own. He's got a bit of a temper." A bit of a temper? That sounded like an understatement, but Kuwabara wasn't going to argue with her. It was her family, so she knew them better.

The palace was quiet when they stepped inside, and Nari didn't slow down to let him look around much. The front door opened into a foyer, with several hallways branching off of it. Nari turned to the right and went down a hallway, and they reached a staircase at the other end. She started pulling him up the stairs, and Kuwabara counted three sets before they turned off to start walking down another hallway. So they were somewhere on the third floor. At the end of the hallway, Nari opened a large wooden door and pulled him inside of a massive room.

"Library?" Kuwabara asked as he looked around. There were giant bookcases lining the room, several smaller bookcases throughout the room, and a lot of comfy looking chairs and couches with tables around them.

"Yes, but we're going to the archives," Nari said and kept walking. Since she was still holding onto his wrist, Kuwabara was pulled along with her. She turned to the left and pulled them to the far side of the room, where a smaller door was. The door opened when Nari nudged it with the toe of her boot, and this room was smaller than the library but looked about the same. Lots of shelves, lots of books, and some comfy looking furniture.

"The archives, huh?" he asked as he looked around. Nari pulled him over to a large couch and finally came to a stop, and he looked down at the table in front of the couch. Food was spread out across it, along with two glasses and a really big jug, which was a good thing because Kuwabara was starving.

"The door is usually locked, but Eriko left it open for us. Have a seat," Nari said and gestured to the large couch. Kuwabara shrugged his bags off and carefully placed them on the floor as Nari moved to the other side of the room, and he slowly sat down as he watched her. She opened up a glass case and trailed her fingers along the spines of some books until she found the one she was looking for, and he heard her make a quiet _aha!_ before she spun around to face him.

"History lesson?" he asked her. The book she was holding was huge and looked old, and she smiled as she started walking back towards him.

"You're lucky. There's rumors and stories about what happened, but only a few people know what actually happened. Like how Corinth was formed. Most people don't know how Corinth came to be, except for the people who were there. Koto and I only know because we were allowed to read this," Nari said and held the book in front of his face as she sat down.

"You mean Eriko formed Corinth?" That would definitely explain how she became king. Nari moved the book into her lap as she nodded, and she tapped her fingers against the front cover.

"She did. Before I start though, I think we should eat. Sound good?" He was curious about the king who'd asked him to come to Demon World, but he also felt like he was starving. So, yeah, food first sounded like a good idea.

"Sounds good."

* * *

 **Ending Note:** Another chapter down! I know this might seem like a filler chapter, but I wouldn't write it if it wasn't important. This is a set-up chapter. In the next chapter, I'll start explaining backstories. Eriko's, Makoto's, Nari and Koto's, and a few surprise characters as well. I don't know how many chapters it's going to take, but I know I'll have fun writing them. Also, since the next chapter is gonna have Eriko's backstory, Raizen will be in the next chapter! So that's definitely something to look forward to.

Okay, it's late and I'm tired, so please feel free to ask any questions if there's something that doesn't make sense.

 **backoff22:** I'm glad you're looking forward to more Kuwabara! Because I don't think he gets enough appreciation, so I'm going to have a lot of fun with him in this story. I'm really liking Nari, because she's almost like the anti-Koto. There's a good balance between them. (I'm not too far behind on your story? Awesome! I promise that as soon as I get free time, I'll get caught up. I need to know how Kohana and Hiei are doing lol) Thank you so much for the review!

 **SakiHanajima1:** I'm so happy you like Nari! Because you know I always carefully plan my OCs, but I put a lot of work into the OCs for this story so I feel super protective of them. That part in the anime always makes me sad too! I mean, I'm glad that Kuwabara got to be normal, but I missed him in the last arc. Shizuru will definitely go to Demon World later on. That's already planned. If I can find a way to bring her in sooner, you know I will because I love Shizuru. I love their little family! Because Makoto is a big scary guy, but he's like a giant teddy bear with his little girls. (Which Eriko mocks him for, but she totally spoils them too.) I'm so glad you're liking the story, and thank you for the review!


	5. Not All Dead

**Author's Note:** This chapter is a bit longer than I originally planned, but I couldn't find a good stopping point. So, I hope you enjoy this long chapter! There's some Eriko backstory, one Raizen scene, and a lot of blood with a side of angst. (I promise, this story will eventually be fluffy and even humorous.)

 **Post Date:** 20 January 2018

 **Word Count:** 13,400

* * *

 **Chapter Five  
** **Not All Dead**

 **1991 April**

"Okay, now that we're both done eating, ready to get started?" Kuwabara looked away from his empty plate before sitting back against the couch, but Nari was still sitting nearly on the edge of the cushion.

"Let's hear it."

"The first thing you need to understand is the geography of Demon World. Not every little city and town, but you need to at least understand the four main territories. See?" Nari had the book open across her lap, and Kuwabara sighed before pulling himself upright.

On the back of the front cover and on the first page was a large drawing of Demon World, and the main territories were the only things outlined. The different territories were even color coded. Tourin took up the North and was yellow, Gandara covered the east and was green, Alaric stretched across the South and was red, and Corinth was the West and was blue. In the center of the four territories was a black section that was bordered by all four territories, and Kuwabara squinted as he leaned closer to read the white script in the middle of the black section. _Shibito Sea._ So there was a sea in the middle of the territories?

"What's with the colors?" he asked first.

"Each kingdom is represented by a color. It's a good way to distinguish soldiers during a war," Nari answered easily. That made sense, mostly.

"And there's a giant sea between everyone?" He tapped the center of the map, over the black section, and Nari's fingers curled around the edges of the book as she hummed.

"Yes, but Shibito Sea is…different. The sea itself is bottomless." Nari looked over at him after saying that, and he must have looked disbelieving because she laughed quietly before continuing. "There are several layers that make up Demon World, and this is just the top layer. There's many levels underneath the surface, and the Shibito Sea funnels down through those levels. No one's really sure how far down the sea goes, because no one on the surface has ever been that far down. The further down you go, the stronger the demons become."

"So there's demons stronger than the kings below the surface?" If there were stronger demons out there, why didn't they come to the surface and take over?

"There are, but they don't like the surface. They prefer the depths of Dokutsu, which is what we collectively call the lower levels." Nari glanced over at him and raised a brow, and he shook his head. He didn't have any other questions about the layout of Demon World, not right now at least, and he wanted to learn more about Corinth's king.

"Are the real stories a lot different from the fairytales and rumors?" Kuwabara asked as Nari flipped to the next page. Her hand spread out to cover the picture that took up the left side of the book, and he looked away from the book to meet her dark eyes.

"Some of the stories paint Eriko as some kind of monster, who appeared out of the darkness and killed everyone. Other stories call her a hero, a savior. Neither of them is wrong, but they're not right either. The truth is hardly ever that black and white," Nari said quietly. Her fingers tapped against the page with the picture, but he still couldn't see what it was. "Eriko was born in 81. Eleven years later, her mother gave birth to twin sons. A year after that, Makoto was born."

"Is that them?" Her hand had slipped off the page, and Kuwabara leaned closer so that he could get a better look.

The child in the middle was the tallest, with messy brown hair and large brown eyes. Twin toddlers were standing on either side of her, one of them had his arm looped around her knee while the other leaned against her since she had an arm draped around his shoulders. In her other arm, she was holding a baby. The other three children had blue hair and blue eyes, and the picture was drawn so perfectly that it looked more like a photo. The girl had to be Eriko, and she was probably holding Makoto while the twins stood on either side of her.

"Yes. Eriko, Haruto, Tomeo, and Makoto. The four Arakawa children. All of them born as pure cat demons with the ability to control one of the elements. Eriko has fire, Makoto the earth, and the twins had wind and water."

"They're special." It didn't really need to be said out loud, but the words slipped out anyway. Nari had said it was rare, but all four of them had an ability of some kind. Which made them special. "Who drew the picture?"

"Every picture in this book was drawn by Tsubaki. She can see the past, and she drew everything as she saw it. This was done when Eriko was thirteen, the twins were two, and Makoto was one." Eriko and the twins were both smiling, and Makoto was clutching a lock of Eriko's hair in one pudgy fist. If he ignored the fluffy tails, they looked like any other family.

"What happened to them?" Nari said that Eriko created Corinth, and Kuwabara knew enough to know that she didn't create an entire kingdom by being nice. Something had to have happened.

"When Eriko was fifteen, their village was attacked. Eriko grabbed her brothers and ran, and the rest of the village was killed. Eriko stuck close to Alaric's border, but she got too close to the West. Back then, it wasn't a kingdom. The whole territory was controlled by the Blackguard Clan, not by a single king. The Blackguard Clan were a mix of demons that worked for the highest bidder. Criminals, thieves, murderers…the worst of the worst. They found Eriko and enslaved all of them."

 **96 June**

Eriko crouched lower to the ground as the large wolf demon crept closer, and she bared her fangs as he reached a hand out. Behind her, she could feel Haruto and Tomeo clutching the back of her shirt. Makoto was in front of her, and she was holding him close to her body with his face pressed against her chest. They'd been walking for days, the boys were tired, and she'd let her guard down. Just for a moment. That was all it took for a group of demons to find them though. Now they were surrounded by at least eight demons, and each one had a carving in the center of their foreheads. The mark of the Blackguard Clan.

"I think I like this one," the wolf said and snapped his arm out. Eriko growled as his hand tangled in her hair and forced her to her feet, and she kept one arm around Makoto while reaching behind her to grab Haruto and Tomeo. The twins were only four, and Makoto was only three. They were too young to fight, and they were definitely too young to fend for themselves if these demons decided to kill her.

"Bring her over here," a different voice said. Eriko started to struggle as the wolf demon tried to pull her away from her brothers, and she felt three sets of little hands pulling at her clothes. The wolf kicked one of the twins, Haruto she thought, and she lost a few hairs as she lunged forward and dug her fangs into the wolf's arm.

"Tough for a cat," the wolf grunted. He easily yanked her head back by her hair and removed her fangs from his arm, and he ripped her away from her little brothers' hands. She could hear them crying out as she was drug across the ground, and she was able to look over her shoulder to see some other demons holding them back.

"Hurt 'em and I'll kill ya!" Eriko yelled right before she was tossed to the ground. She immediately scrambled up onto her knees, and a hand locked around her throat. Nails scratched at the hand cutting off her airway, and she was pulled up off the ground so that she was being held in the air. Dark eyes looked her over as she struggled in the tight hold, and she felt the hand on her throat start heating up.

"They smell like you, but they're not yours. Brothers?" It was a fire demon holding her up, and Eriko resisted the urge to let her own fire out. Her parents always warned her about letting outsiders know that she was more than just a cat demon, and she couldn't take the chance of slipping up now. She had to look after her brothers, because their parents were gone now.

"Yes," she forced out. The other demons were just looking at her and the fire demon, so he was probably the leader of them.

"What would you do to save their lives?" Her hands stilled on the demon's forearm, and she blinked to ease the dryness of her eyes.

"Anything," she answered honestly. She was the one who held her mother as she gave birth to all three of her brothers, and she was the first being to ever hold them. While her mother had slumped in exhaustion, she had cleaned them and sung to them. Promised them that they were safe and loved. They were hers to protect, now more than ever.

"What would you do to save your own life?" Something sparked in the fire demon's eyes, but she didn't know what. Didn't understand what he was asking, or why.

"Almost anything." The fire demon grinned, and Eriko felt something cold in the pit of her stomach.

"Bring the little ones over here." Eriko started to struggle again, but the fire demon was stronger than her. Much stronger. She could hear her brothers sniffling as three other demons drug them over to where Eriko was currently suspended. "Hatsuko, bring the locks. Daisuke, hold this one for me."

"Eri!" Her brothers were crying as the large wolf demon grabbed her again, this time by holding her arms behind her back, and her feet connected with the ground once again. Eriko twisted in the wolf's hold to look at her brothers, and three pairs of watery blue eyes stared up at her.

"Stay strong, okay? Keep your chins up," Eriko said quietly. Haruto's bottom lip trembled as he raised his head, Tomeo sniffled quietly but did the same after his twin, and Makoto raised his chin and then bared his tiny fangs at the wolf demon holding onto Eriko.

"I believe these will work, Master Giichi." Eriko's bright brown eyes narrowed on the small rabbit demon who stopped at the fire demon's side, but she didn't start struggling again until she realized what the rabbit demon was holding in her hands.

"Use the brats for the locks," the fire demon said as he took the collar out of the rabbit's hand. Eriko was still fighting to get free as the wolf demon laughed at her futile efforts when the fire demon stepped in front of her, and he waved the iron collar in front of her face.

"I will not be a slave," Eriko growled. She was born free, and she was taught to never submit. She didn't care about the Blackguard Clan's reputation, didn't care about the stories of their cruelty, because she was not going to be anyone's slave. She'd die first.

"Don't worry, little hellcat, you'll be given a choice." The fire demon's hand fisted in the top of her hair and forced her head to turn to the side, and she watched as the rabbit demon knelt down in front of her brothers. "Hatsuko is quite gifted at manipulating and binding energy. She's been working on creating a new way to make sure that our slaves remember their place. Watch as she binds your brothers' energy to the locks."

"Don't you fuckin' touch 'em, witch!" Eriko yelled. She was caught between the wolf and the fire demon, and they both laughed as she struggled without making any progress.

The rabbit, Hatsuko, spoke quietly to the boys as the demons holding them held their arms out. Hatsuko used a thin blade to prick their fingers, and Eriko felt just a small fissure of pride when her brothers didn't make a sound or cry out. They were young, but they were going to be so strong. Blood was squeezed out of their fingertips and dropped onto three iron locks, and Hatsuko kept the three locks from touching as she got to her feet and turned to face where Eriko was still being held immobile.

"I will need her blood as well. The binding will only work if the blood is combined," Hatsuko said quietly. Her dark eyes seemed almost sad, but Eriko wasn't going to feel any kind of sadness for this demon. She wasn't wearing any kind of collar, and she wasn't dressed like a slave.

"Hold her steady, Daisuke," the fire demon said. Eriko felt the wolf's hands tightening around her forearms, and her head snapped to the side as the fire demon's hand connected with her face. Her top and bottom lip split against the force, and blood oozed from the cuts and dripped down her chin. The fire demon's hand fisted in her hair again so that he could pull her face back around, and dark golden eyes watched the way that blood streaked down her face. "That should do it."

"Please, hold still," Hatsuko said quietly as she stepped forward. Eriko didn't really have a choice, not with the way she was being held, and the rabbit held the locks under her dripping blood one at a time. "You may place the collar on her now."

Eriko wanted to fight as the fire demon raised the hand holding the collar, but she was being held too securely to move. So instead of struggling for their amusement, she held perfectly still and looked straight into the fire demon's eyes as he held her hair up and pressed the collar against the back of her neck. The iron felt cold against her bare skin, and the front of the collar gaped open. The fire demon smiled at her as he took a step back, and the rabbit took his place in front of Eriko. The rabbit wasn't very tall, but Eriko had always been shorter than most mature demons. So she had to keep her head tipped back as the rabbit closed the collar and started fastening the three locks.

Once the three locks were in place, Hatsuko pressed her fingers against the cool iron of the collar and closed her eyes. Her lips moved soundlessly, and Eriko tried to make out the words by reading her lips but couldn't. She was speaking in a language that Eriko didn't know, and she lost her ability to focus as she felt the first pull on her energy. It felt like a hand was digging down into her chest and ripping out her energy, her very being, and her jaw locked as she tossed her head back. Dimly, she could hear her brothers crying out. Pained screams as it felt like Eriko was being torn apart. The pain could have lasted for seconds or days, she seemed to lose all track of time, and she was breathing heavily when the pulling sensation stopped.

"What'd ya do to me?" Eriko huffed out. Hatsuko looked pale and shaken as she stumbled back a few steps, and the fire demon grinned as he stepped in front of her again.

"You're young, but I felt your strength. We've been tracking you for days, watching you. No weapons, no food or water, nothing but the rags on your backs. Even with everything stacked against you, you've continued to fight. I watched you kill two demons with my own eyes," the fire demon said instead of answering her.

Two demons…watching her for days? The four of them had kept on the move while she tried to remember where the Cat Demon Tribes were located in Alaric. They didn't have any blood family anymore, but they might be able to find sanctuary with their own kind. Eriko hadn't had time to grab anything from the village before it was destroyed; all they had were the clothes they'd been wearing when they ran, and Eriko had been doing her best to provide for her brothers while staying undetected. Demons were still able to find them, but thankfully they'd all been relatively weak. Eriko had been able to kill the ones looking to eat her brothers with nothing more than her own physical strength. She hadn't even had to use her fire.

"That's not an answer," she forced out. Pain was still radiating throughout her body, and the fire demon was blocking her view of her brothers. She needed to know if they were okay.

"You're strong, little hellcat, and you'll get stronger. I want that strength for myself." The confusion she felt must have shown on her face, because the fire demon reached up and wrapped his fist around the front of the collar. "You're not going to be just any slave. You're going to belong to me, and only me."

"I belong to no one." Eriko was surprised at the strength in her voice, because she was finding it difficult to even remain on her feet. The fire demon grinned as the iron collar around her neck began to heat up, and she hissed as her skin started to burn and blister.

"Those locks are special. You can remove them whenever you want and take the collar off. Once the collar comes off, you're free to leave." He used the hold on the collar to pull her up, until her weight was braced against her toes, and the look in his dark eyes made her feel cold despite the burning skin of her neck. "Those locks have been bound to your brothers' energy. If their energy disappears, the locks will come off and set you free."

 _Bound to your brother's energy…disappears…given a choice._

The fire demon's smile only grew as recognition filled her eyes, and she felt her stomach clenching as hot bile flooded her throat. If her brothers died, the locks would come off and set her free. The choice he was giving her was a simple one. She could choose to be a slave, to be his slave, and be forced to wear a collar for the rest of her life. Or she could kill her three little brothers and be free. In the end, it was the easiest decision she'd ever had to make. She didn't even have to think about it.

"I would _never_ hurt them." They were more than just her blood. She'd been there for them ever since they took their first breaths, rocked and sang to them as they cried, tended to them when they were sick…She loved her parents, and she knew she'd spend the rest of her life mourning them. Her brothers though, they were _hers_.

"They will not be collared, and they will be your responsibility. Keep them alive by serving me, that is your only purpose. Understood?" Anger burned through her even hotter than the iron locked around her throat, but she nodded her head anyway. "What do you say?"

The wolf demon released her arms, and Eriko swayed. The only thing that kept her from stumbling was the fire demon's hand still locked around the front of the collar, and she forced her shoulders up and back. She might be a slave and might be drained of energy, but she was not weak. She would never show weakness to this demon, or any other. So she stood to her full height, which was at least two feet shorter than the fire demon looking down at her, and met his dark eyes with her own as she bit out the words he wanted to hear.

"Yes, Master."

 **1991 April**

Kuwabara felt sick as he looked down at the picture that took up the entire page, and he could still hear Nari's quiet voice as she explained how Eriko was enslaved. The picture showed the side profiles of Eriko and the fire demon who'd captured her, and this picture was also drawn so expertly that it looked closer to a photo. The fire demon towered over Eriko's smaller form, and his black clothing and clean tan skin contrasted against the smaller demon standing in front of him. Eriko was only wearing a white tunic, and the fabric was stained with a mixture of blood and dirt. Kuwabara could even see cuts and bruises spread over her bare limbs. Her brown hair was long and tangled down the length of her back, and her head was raised so that he could see the collar wrapped around her neck.

 _The collar_.

He'd seen the collar earlier, when he met Eriko, and he'd thought then that it'd just been an odd choice for a necklace. The only other detail he could remember about the collar was that there was only one lock on it, not three. (A part of him had already thought that her brothers, the twins, were dead. When Nari told him about the elements that the Arakawa children could control, she'd used the past tense with the twins. She also hadn't mentioned having uncles. Yeah, Kuwabara could be a little slow sometimes, but he wasn't an idiot.)

"Giichi, the fire demon who watched Eriko and her brothers, was the leader of the Blackguard Clan. He didn't know about Eriko's ability to create and control fire, but he watched her long enough to know that she was strong and willing to do anything to keep her brothers safe."

"So the collar is…she still has to wear it?" Kuwabara asked. Nari bit down on her bottom lip as she slowly nodded, and she tapped her fingers against the picture that was still showing.

"Hatsuko really was gifted at manipulating and binding energy. It's been nearly two thousand years, and the binding still hasn't worn off." Which meant that Eriko had been wearing a collar, a slave collar, for almost two thousand years. "Giichi had Eriko trained extensively, pushed her to be stronger than most of his followers, and used her as a personal guard."

"Wasn't he worried about her becoming strong enough to kill him?" Or maybe that was what happened. Kuwabara knew that something had to have happened eventually, because Eriko was the king of the West now.

"No, because he still had her brothers. It didn't matter that they weren't collared, and he didn't even have to threaten to kill them. He kept them locked in the dungeon and promised to torture them if Eriko disobeyed."

Okay, yeah, Kuwabara was definitely feeling sick. Eriko was only fifteen when she became a slave, and her brothers were only four and three. Nari continued to talk, and Kuwabara felt his fists clenching as she described what life was like for the Arakawa siblings while they were slaves. While Eriko was trained, suppression cuffs were kept on her brothers to keep their energy from developing. Her brothers were kept in cells, occasionally fed and allowed outside, and Eriko was only allowed to see them when Giichi decided that she'd earned it.

"I really hope this guy got what was coming to him." Kuwabara liked to fight, that wasn't a secret, but he'd never really liked killing. If anyone had ever deserved to die though, it was that guy.

"Oh, he did. It just took a while." Nari turned the page, but she laid her arms across the pictures on both new pages before Kuwabara could get a good look at them. "Eriko was Giichi's personal slave for fifteen years, because she couldn't risk Giichi hurting her brothers. No one's really sure how long she might have stayed if Giichi hadn't decided to sell her brothers."

 **111 March**

" _If you want the little blue-haired bastards so bad, you'll pay up!"_

Eriko could still hear Master's voice echoing in her mind as she kept her back pressed close to the wall, and her feet were silent as she navigated the hallways and staircases of Master's castle. She'd been standing outside of Master's room while he had a meeting with a boar demon, and she was sure that he didn't know she'd been able to overhear him. It was a good thing she'd never let him know just how keen her hearing could be, or she might not have heard his plans. Taking care of three prisoners was expensive, especially when they were just kept in the dungeon and didn't contribute in any way, but Eriko never thought that he'd sell them.

The dungeons were silent when she reached them, but she still quickly scanned her eyes around the cavernous room. Master didn't usually keep guards in the dungeon unless he was holding a prisoner for someone else, and right now the dungeon only had three occupants. Eriko's steps were light but quick as she went to the cell on the far left, the first cell, and bright blue eyes met her own. Her throat felt tight as her fingers curled around the metal bars, and her youngest brother leaned down so that they were on the same eye-level.

"What're ya doin' down here, Eri?" Makoto asked. His voice was hoarse and his lips were cracked, so they probably hadn't had water in a couple of days.

"I'm getting all of you out of here," she said and tightened her grip on the bars in front of her.

Makoto was eighteen now and a full foot taller than her, and he should have looked tall and strong like their father. Instead, his light blue hair pressed limply against his skull and down his pale cheeks. He was too thin, from being underfed, and the thick cuffs on his wrists kept his energy constantly suppressed. He'd never had the chance to let his energy out, to grow stronger, and he'd been kept in a cell since he was three years old. She could see his eyes widening as fire started to coat her hands and melt the metal of the bars, and his eyes were such a brighter blue than the twins' darker blue shade.

"Don't do anything to get yourself hurt, Eriko," Tomeo said quietly. Eriko's eyes clenched shut as she pulled the melted bars apart, and Makoto was thin enough to slip through the gap she'd created.

"You have been in this cage for too long," Eriko told the younger twin as she grabbed the bars of his cell. Tomeo had always been the quieter of all of them, and Eriko could still remember the way his small hand would fist in the back of her shirt as he followed after her while she did her chores. His hair and eyes were a darker blue than Makoto's, but he was just as pale and thin. He also looked to be the same height, so Eriko guessed that Makoto was probably still growing.

"We'll be okay, sister. You don't have to take this risk," Haruto said after Tomeo had stepped out of his cell. Eriko stopped in front of Haruto's cell, and he looked identical to Tomeo. The only difference between them was the small scar on the right side of his chin, from falling down a hillside when the twins were two. Haruto had held onto Tomeo so that he took the brunt of the fall, and a rock had cut down to the bone. It'd healed quickly enough, but a small scar had been left behind.

"Master wants to sell you. I know you're mistreated here, but at least I can keep an eye on you. If he sells you and they take you away…I won't let him. We've all been prisoners for long enough." With one last burst of energy, Eriko pulled the melted bars apart so that Haruto could step free.

Eriko stepped back into the center of the room, and her three younger brothers stood in a line as they looked at her. All three of them had their father's coloring and tall height, his fair skin, but they were all so thin. They'd been wasting away down in this dungeon for _years_ , and it wasn't right. She should have found a way to save them sooner. As her eyes started to burn, Tomeo stumbled forward a few steps until he was standing directly in front of her. The first few tears slipped down her cheeks as she raised a hand to brush back Tomeo's bangs, and long arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her forward.

"Thank you, sister," Tomeo whispered as his arms tightened around her.

"Thank you," Haruto echoed as his arms wrapped high around her waist.

"Thanks, Eri," Makoto mumbled against the top of her head as his arms moved around her hips. She was surrounded by her brothers, and her hands held onto them as tight as she dared. While they'd been suppressed and caged, she'd been beaten and forced to become stronger.

"Alright, enough of this. We can celebrate properly after we're out of here." Stepping away from them was difficult, but it was something that she had to do.

"We'll follow you," Haruto said and smiled down at her. Tomeo and Makoto nodded to back up his claim, and Eriko smiled just a little. It didn't matter that they'd been enslaved for years, because they were still strong. They could do this, as long as they stuck together.

"Then let's get out of here."

Sneaking out of the castle was surprisingly easy. Eriko had become skilled at cloaking her energy, it quickly became a necessity when she had to shadow Master on his jobs, and her brothers' energy was suppressed and nearly undetectable. No one noticed them leaving the back of the castle, but Eriko didn't start to breathe normally until they were near the edge of Master's land. Most of the West was constantly changing ownership as the Blackguard Clan fought amongst each other, but Master's land was well-known and rested at the base of a large mountain. In all honesty, Eriko wouldn't feel at ease until she could no longer see the peak of the mountain. She wouldn't feel _free_ until they were all out of the West.

The four of them had just crossed into a forest when she heard the sound of demons yelling, and her eyes widened at the sound of a loud howl cutting through the air. _Daisuke_. The wolf demon was Master's best tracker, and he'd been around Eriko's scent for years. He knew her brothers' scents as well, so their only hope was to outrun him until he gave up. The closest territory to their position was Tourin…Maybe, if they could reach Tourin's border, Daisuke and the others would stop pursuing them. She'd heard tales of Tourin's ruler, a Mazoku demon by the name of Raiden, and many demons feared him. If they could just make it that far, Daisuke might stop chasing them out of fear of the demon king.

 **.xXx.**

It'd been days, three or four, of them running nonstop. They'd had time to stop at a stream to get a drink of water, but there hadn't been any time for them to stop to look for food. Every time Eriko tried to slow down, to give her brothers a moment of rest, she could feel Daisuke's energy getting closer. She knew that he had others with him, and she couldn't let the hunting party catch up to them. No slave ever ran away from the Blackguard Clan. They were always hunted down and either drug back or killed. Eriko knew that Master wouldn't want to have her killed, he'd spent too much time and energy training her to his specifications, but her own death wasn't the worst thing that he could do to her.

"No, Tomeo, you can't slow down. You have to keep going," Eriko said as she caught her stumbling brother. Makoto was running in front of all of them with Haruto right on his heels, and Eriko was running behind them so that she could keep an eye on them.

"I'm okay, Eriko." Tomeo straightened up and hurried to catch up to Haruto, and Eriko glanced over her shoulder.

The mountainous range of the West was starting to give way to the desert plains of the North, but there were still forests dotted along the land. The trees were mostly bare, gray and skeletal, but it was still hard to see shapes in the darkness. To see if the demons hunting them were close. The moon overhead wasn't giving them much light, and Eriko had to be careful to jump over large protruding roots as she forced her tired body to keep going. They had to be getting close to the border of Tourin.

Up ahead, Makoto slid to an abrupt stop. He held his arms out so that Haruto and Tomeo ran into them, and Eriko felt the skin on the bottom of her feet ripping as she forced herself to stop before she could crash into them. Once she was at a complete standstill, she took in a deep breath and stepped around where Haruto was standing. Makoto had stopped on the edge of a cliff, and Eriko leaned forward to see how far down the cliff extended. Too far, definitely too far for them to jump in their weakened states, and all she could see of the ground was flat desert sand.

"We can climb down, slowly. Makoto, you go first and-"

Eriko's words were cut off as pain lanced through her left shoulder, and a growling scream pushed past her clenched teeth as she looked down. An arrow was protruding from her shoulder, and the wound was already starting to bleed heavily. Arrows coated in demonic energy…one of the demons in Daisuke's hunting party, a thin coyote demon, was skilled at combining his energy with his arrows. It made the wounds wider and kept them from healing, and she pressed a hand around the shaft of the arrow as she turned around.

"Leave the bitch alive!" she heard Daisuke shouting. The hunting party was close, too close, and they were right on the border between the Western and Northern territories. Eriko looked over her shoulder, at where her brothers were still standing on the edge of the cliff, and pushed the pain in her shoulder to the back of her mind.

"You have to run. Get down the cliff and start running as soon as your feet hit the sand. Don't stop until you know for sure that there's no one after you," she told them quickly. She could hear running footsteps getting closer. It wouldn't be much longer before the hunting party caught up to them.

"What about you?" Tomeo asked quietly. She felt fingers grazing the back of the shirt she was wearing before tightly gripping the fabric, and she looked each of them in the eye as she realized what she was going to have to do.

"They don't want to kill me. They'll want to take me back, so I'll survive. You three have to run, because they will kill you."

For years, her brothers had been kept alive to keep her obedient. Master knew that she'd do whatever was asked of her as long as her brothers were alive, but she also knew that he'd been growing tired of keeping prisoners that didn't benefit him in any other way than forcing her obedience. Eriko knew that Hatsuko, the rabbit demon who'd created the collar she was currently wearing, had been working on a new binding spell. Something that would bind Eriko's energy to Master's, but the binding connection would be one-sided. If something happened to Eriko, Master would be perfectly fine. If Master died, however, Eriko would die along with him. Hatsuko was getting close to perfecting the binding, and Master wouldn't need her brothers after that.

"We can't just leave you," Haruto said stubbornly. She was older than them, stronger than them, but they were still so protective. In another life, it would have been sweet.

"This is not a discussion! All of you are too weak to fight, and I will not be the reason that you die! Now get out of here!" she yelled just as another howl sounded.

"We survive by staying together," Makoto said and took a step towards her. That was something her parents had repeated for years, and Eriko had said it to her brothers so much over the years that the words were familiar. She just never thought that a single statement would be their undoing.

Before she could argue further, demons emerged from the trees in front of them. She could hear them yelling as they rushed forward, and Eriko immediately ran out in front of her brothers. Daisuke only had six other demons with him, but Eriko was the only one strong enough to really fight. She could hear her brothers fighting behind her, could hear them struggling, and her energy-infused fist punched through the coyote demon's stomach and came out through his back. One down, six to go.

Claws and bladed weapons drug across her skin as she blindly fought against the demons that surrounded her, and she barely had the presence of mind to count as demons dropped at her feet. Two down, five to go. (Tomeo was yelling behind her, a scream filled with pain.) Three down, four to go. (Makoto was growling, a roar so loud that it felt like the ground was shaking.) Four down, three to go. (Haruto called out his twin's name, a desperate sounding plea.) Five down, two to go.

Eriko spun on her heel as another demon dropped to the ground in front of her, his head barely still attached, and the red in her vision faded as she took in the scene. Tomeo's shirt had been torn open when his chest had been ripped open, and she could see the wet flap of half of his lung. His mouth was open in a silent scream as he started to fall back over the edge of the cliff, and Haruto was reaching out for him. He was so focused on grabbing his twin that he didn't sense the demon behind him, and Eriko tried to run towards them but knew that she'd never make it in time. The fox demon pushed a long-bladed knife through Haruto's neck, stabbed him from behind, and Eriko screamed as the twins fell over the side of the cliff.

Heated hands grabbed the fox's shoulders as she jumped into the air, and she could hear the fox howling in pain as her fire burned away skin and muscle until she was gripping the bones of his shoulders in her hands. The bones broke under her hands as she forced him down to his knees, and she raised one hand to grip his chin and twist his head to the side. The gurgled screaming cut off as he slumped to the side, and Eriko sucked in a breath as she looked for Makoto. He was standing farther down, balancing himself on the edge of the cliff, and fighting against Daisuke.

" _I can't lose them…I can't lose them."_

The words repeated in Eriko's mind as she rushed towards her brother, and she cursed her tired body as time seemed to slow down. Makoto had dropped to his knees, exhaustion stamped across his body, and Daisuke was laughing in front of him. The wolf was holding his large sword over his shoulder, and Eriko knew what he was about to do. She'd seen Daisuke kill scores of demons in the same way, and she wasn't going to watch as her youngest brother was cut in half. Her feet slid against the ground as she put herself in front of Makoto and held her arms out, and she'd made it just in time.

The sharp blade cut straight through her, and her body flashed numb as the blade was yanked free. The sword had entered just below the dip of her collarbones and came out between her shoulder blades, and he'd pulled downward so that she was ripped open. From collarbones to just below her navel, from shoulder blades to the small of her back. Spine severed, organs ruptured, split apart. Blood frothed on her lips as she grinned up at Daisuke's shocked face, because she knew he'd been ordered not to kill her. It was an order that he had failed.

Makoto's presence at her back was gone, which meant that he'd fallen over the side of the cliff as well. That was okay, because she'd be with him soon. She'd be with all of them soon, with her brothers and her parents. With her village. There was just one last thing that she needed to do. While Daisuke was still immobile from shock, she focused on the center of his chest and pushed out what little energy she had left. Daisuke howled and stumbled back as his chest caught fire, and she had just enough time to see him writhing on the ground coated in fire before she fell backwards and slipped over the edge of the cliff.

 **.xXx.**

The sand under Eriko's body was hot as she returned to consciousness, and her eyes opened into slits to see the bright light of the sun directly overhead. It took a moment for her to remember why she was looking up at the sky instead of at the ceiling of her small room, and her entire body tensed up as the memories slowly came back to her. Overhearing Master's plans to sell her brothers, breaking her brothers out of their cells, sneaking out of the castle, and then days of running from the hunting party sent after them. They'd been on the border to Tourin when the hunting party caught up to them, and… _No_.

Eriko's fists weakly pounded once against the hot sand under her, which meant that the damage to her spine had started to heal. She was still close to death, she'd been too injured and had lost too much energy, but her body was still fighting to heal itself. The only problem was that she didn't want to heal, didn't want to keep on living. Not if her brothers were gone. They'd been so weak from being kept prisoner, and she didn't think that their bodies could withstand the injuries they'd sustained and falling off a cliff.

There was one way that she could know for sure. Since her spine seemed to be intact and she could move her arms at least, she could reach up towards her throat. It was slow going; her left shoulder felt cold compared to the rest of her body because of the broken arrow still in it, so she started dragging her right hand along the sand and then over her body. Her shirt had been completely ripped away during her fall, and her fingers slid against fresh blood. The large cut going down her torso was still bleeding, not healing, and she could feel the ragged edges of the wound. Her fingers moved up her stomach, prodded at the ragged skin between her breasts, and paused against the sharp feeling of her collarbones.

She needed to know, for sure, and her eyes clenched shut as she forced her hand to move up higher. Her fingers were sticky from blood as they pressed against the metal of the collar, and she slid her fingers to the right. The lock there was gone. Her finger hooked inside of the circular protrusion where the lock had been, and her eyes burned as she scrambled to touch the lock in the middle of the collar. Gone. Two locks were gone, which meant that two of her brothers were dead. Her chest heaved with a dry sob as she reached for the far left of the collar, and her laugh sounded wet as her bloody fingers grasped at the lock still firmly in place.

Her relief was short-lived though, because she could feel the thick crack running down the length of the lock. One of her brothers was still alive, but he was dying. Simply hitting the locks or falling from a cliff wouldn't be enough to crack the lock; the iron was bound to her brother's energy, so if it was showing damage then it had to be because he was close to death. She didn't even know which lock belonged to which brother, so she didn't know which one of them had survived. She did know that she didn't have the strength to get to him. Didn't even know where she could start looking.

"What has stumbled into my territory? Are you too stubborn to realize that you're dead?" The deep voice was a shock, and Eriko's eyes flew open. She still couldn't move the majority of her body, but her head twisted in the direction of the voice. A large demon knelt down next to her, and Eriko stared up into dark violet eyes as a clawed hand hooked around her collar and pulled a little to inspect the markings etched into the iron. "An escaped slave from the Blackguard Clan. How did you manage that, kitten?"

"By running very fast." Her voice was a wet growl, and the taste of blood was thick in the back of her throat. The demon's head fell back as he laughed, and Eriko's eyes got caught on the long white strands of hair that moved to drape over his bare chest.

"You're not long for this world, so I'll ignore your insolence." The demon…he'd asked what had stumbled into _his_ territory. Eriko forced herself to take a deep breath and then tried to ignore the feeling of fresh blood tracking over her skin. She could smell the power coming off of him, but it was hard to identify his scent. Probably because Mazoku demons were extremely rare.

"Are you Raiden?" Violet eyes darkened even further as he used the hold on her collar to pull her head off of the sand, and she barked out a harsh scream as the move pulled at the deep wounds all over her body. She hadn't been able to see, but she knew that she'd been cut open by the demons who'd hunted them down and had probably gained more injuries in her fall. Her whole body was a mess of fresh pain and slick blood, and the demon growled low in his chest as he pulled her face closer to his.

"I am _nothing_ like that old bastard." Sharp bursts of energy pushed against her aching body as the demon growled, and Eriko felt her confusion growing. He looked like the demon king she'd heard about, a large Mazoku demon with white hair, but he wasn't?

" _I heard that Raiden's brat is traveling and growing stronger. Gonna take over Tourin when the geezer croaks," Daisuke grumbled up at the ceiling. He was sitting at Master's kitchen table, tipped back in his chair, while Master ate his dinner. Eriko had been forced onto her knees at Master's side and was only allowed to eat if Master got full before completing his dinner. It was looking like Eriko was going to go without food tonight._

" _Raizen may only be a century and a half, but he has his father's raw power. We will not cross him, just as we do not cross Raiden," Master said and lifted more meat to his mouth. If Eriko was lucky, he might let her have whatever scraps were left clinging to the bones._

"Raizen." The demon's glare tempered somewhat as she said his name, and he was more gentle as he lowered her head back to the ground. "Will you kill me for being in your territory?"

The collar around her neck proved that she was a slave, and her current state was proof that she'd escaped. The rules of slavery differed from territory to territory, but all three territories seemed to have an agreement with the Blackguard Clan that resided in the West. If an escaped Blackguard slave was caught, they'd either be killed on the spot to avoid the headache of transporting a slave to the West or be returned to the Leader of the Blackguard Clan. To Master. So if this demon, Raizen, chose to return her…well, she'd be better off dead. Without her brothers, she had no reason to submit. Nothing too force her into being obedient. Death would be a kindness.

"No," Raizen decided and released her collar. Eriko's eyes widened as he got to his feet, towering over her, and she felt her jaw clenching as anger rushed through her.

"You'd return me to slavery? Force me to be another's possession again?" His head tilted to the side as his dark eyes swept over her bare torso, and she could only imagine what she looked like. Were her insides visible? Exposed to the heat of the air? She couldn't tell.

"You're dying, kitten." She growled weakly at the name and listened to the way that Raizen laughed. "I won't expend my energy to kill a dying creature. Die here, knowing that you set yourself free."

 _Free._ There was still a collar locked around her throat, but for how long? How much longer before the lock finished cracking and she was left alone in this world? The last of the Arakawa family…dying alone in a strange place. No one to mourn her. No one to remember her. Scavenger demons would pick her bones clean in no time, and she'd cease to be. Eriko was dying, and _she was pissed_. She survived her village being destroyed, kept her brothers alive when their parents died, and endured fifteen years of slavery just to die after finally becoming free. Two of her brothers were already dead, and it wasn't right.

"It's not right!" The words felt like they'd been ripped out of her throat as she screamed up at the sky, and she wasn't sure if she was talking to the gods or to the demon still towering over her as she continued to scream. "My brothers could have been strong! If Master hadn't suppressed their energy since they were mere children, they would have been strong enough to fight with me! We could have survived together! Two of them are dead, one of them is dying, and I am going to die! It was my job to keep them safe, to keep them alive, and I failed!"

"Crying about it now isn't going to change anything." The tears running steadily from the corners of her eyes felt cool on her overheated skin, and she turned her head just enough to glare up at the large demon. She could glare at him all she wanted, because she probably wouldn't live long enough for him to do anything to her anyway.

"Have you ever lost someone that you loved?" Her voice was rough, and blood slid over the cracked skin of her lips. That wasn't a good sign.

"No." He knelt down again as he answered, and Eriko kept her eyes on him. Watching him, waiting to see what he was going to do to next. "You're not very old, are you, kitten?"

"Too old to be called kitten," she huffed. Raizen's grin was sharp and wide enough to show the points of his fangs, and Eriko rolled her eyes since it hurt too much to move any other part of her body. "Thirty years."

"That's too bad." Her eyes widened as Raizen reached out again, she assumed to grab her collar, and she made a quiet sound of surprise as his hand swiped over her cheek instead. He brushed away the hair stuck to the blood on her face and then ran his claws through the bloody tangled mess her hair had become.

"And why is that?" Her vision was starting to darken along the edges, and her body was starting to grow cold. She was never cold. It didn't matter that the sun was scorching above her; Eriko's own energy had always been searing, so the cold meant that the last of her energy was fading. Dying.

"If you'd had a few more decades, maybe a century or two, you might have been able to overthrow the bastard who turned you into a slave." She'd been surprised at the gentle sweep of the demon's claws through her hair, and she missed that small gesture of kindness when Raizen got to his feet once more.

"Maybe I'll have better luck in the next life," Eriko forced out as her body began to throb consistently with pain. She was starting to shake from the cold, and it was causing every part of her to ache with strengthened pain. Raizen's eyes ran over her again, from her tangled hair to her bare feet. She was only wearing a piece of brown cloth wrapped around her hips, and the collar.

"We do not keep slaves in Tourin, but I've heard that slaves have no possessions. Is this true?" It wasn't a question that she'd been expecting, and she let her head roll against the ground.

"I can't speak for every slave, but it's true for me. I have nothing." Soon, she would _be_ nothing. It felt like there was ice hardening her veins, and it was getting harder to make her eyes focus. Her vision was nearly completely black now.

"Then consider this a gift. Something of your own to carry into the next life." She felt something soft draped over her torso, and it took a long moment before she was able to get her eyes to focus. A yellow cloth was covering her torso now, the long winding scarf that Raizen had been wearing, and she squinted up at him in confusion.

" _Something…of my own,"_ she thought as Raizen turned around. Black dots swarmed her vision and caused his large form to disappear, and she closed her eyes with a quiet groan.

 **.xXx.**

The sun was blinding when Eriko cracked her eyes open, and the back of her head shifted against the sand as she located where the sun was. Falling down a cliff, being on the edge of death, and lying in an unfamiliar territory messed with her sense of direction. It was hard to tell exactly, but she thought the sun was in a rising position. Not a setting one. The last time she'd been conscious, the sun had been directly overhead. Midday. So if the sun was rising now, that meant she'd slept through the night. Possibly several nights, but she doubted that. If she'd been unconscious for more than a few hours, another demon would have found her.

 _Raizen_.

A demon had found her, but he hadn't done anything that she'd expected of him. He hadn't seen her collar and immediately killed her to keep from having to deal with the Blackguard Clan, and he hadn't drug her back to Master. He hadn't even killed her out of principle like most demons would have after finding someone so wounded. He'd spoken to her, and…he'd given her a gift. Something of her own.

Eriko struggled to lift her head and look down, and the yellow fabric that was still spread over her upper body was mostly stained a rusty brown color. Dark stains, not fresh blood. She managed to raise her right arm and lifted one side of the scarf, it'd been a scarf, and her eyes swept over her torso. The long wound still looked raw, but it wasn't bleeding anymore. Some of the other cuts from the fight had started to heal as well. She still felt drained, but she could feel the heat of her energy again. She was healing, not dying.

Her fingers scrambled against the collar still locked around her neck, and her fist closed around the single lock that was left. At least one night had passed, and one of her brothers was still alive. Her thumb pressed against the crack, but it didn't feel as wide as the first time she had touched it. Maybe, whoever had survived, was healing as well. One of her brothers was still out there. _Alive_. She couldn't keep just lying around and waiting to die, not if she could help him. She needed to get moving, but she needed to take stock of her body and injuries first.

Feet…she'd start from the bottom and work her way up. The bottoms of her feet felt sore and tender, from days of running, but that wasn't anything she hadn't dealt with before. The muscles of her legs felt overextended but were otherwise unharmed. Her torso and back were her biggest concerns. Daisuke's sword had cut straight through her; the wound on the front of her body was still gaping open, and she could feel sand digging into the long open cut on her back. It felt like the internal damage had been healed, but her energy had given out before healing the actual cuts. She also still had an arrow in her left shoulder, and that hole wouldn't heal until the arrow was removed.

She knew what she needed to do and knew how much it was going to hurt, but she had to act fast. She needed to find her surviving brother. So she pulled the scarf off of her body and laid it next to her instead, but she was careful to make sure that it wasn't touching any part of her. Then she locked her teeth together, curled her fingers around the broken shaft of the arrow in her shoulder, and yanked. A scream was caught in her throat as the arrow was pulled free, and she tossed the bloody shaft away from her.

The easy part was over, so she closed her eyes and focused on the energy slowly trying to build up inside of her. It wasn't a good idea to try and use her energy when she was still so weak, but she needed her fire. Her head thrashed against the sand as she focused the fire on her body, and she felt the cuts on her body being forcibly sealed as she used her fire to cauterize the wounds. She knew that using her fire to close the wounds would more than likely cause her to scar, but she could handle a few scars. She couldn't handle possibly bleeding out while dragging herself across the ground to search for her brother.

By the time the wounds were sealed, Eriko was hiccoughing quietly from the pain and trying to slip into unconsciousness again. She pushed past the feeling though and slowly flexed her body; there were was still plenty of pains and aches, but she no longer felt incapacitated by it. She braced her palms against the ground and _pushed_ , and her upper body lurched off the ground as she let out a quiet cry. For several moments, she just sat in the sand and listened to the sound of her own harsh breathing. Time wasn't a luxury though, so she hurried to reach beside her and grab the yellow scarf. She wound it around her breasts before tying it off, and the brown cloth around her hips was still secure. It'd have to do for now.

Standing up took several tries, she fell flat on her back twice and had to blink back tears as the wind was knocked out of her, but she finally managed to stand on her own two feet. A quick look around showed her where the cliff was that she'd fallen off of, and she'd been lying on a stretch of desert next to a barren forest. Her brothers fell before her, so there was a chance that they'd fallen into the forest instead of into the desert. She couldn't see any forms lying out in the sand anyway. The forest seemed like her best bet, so that was where she headed.

A trip that should have only taken her an hour stretched into half a day as her body refused to move at times, and she had to use the rough bark of the tall gnarled trees to stay standing as she tried to navigate. Whenever she managed to catch a breath, she yelled out one of her brother's names. It wasn't wise to be so loud, any demon could find her and she wasn't in any kind of shape to fight, but she also didn't have the energy to search them out. Her only hope was that they'd be able to hear her and respond. She walked throughout the forest for hours, shouting until her voice grew hoarse, and she leaned her back against a tree as the sun started to dip below the tops of the trees.

"Haruto!" The tree was the only thing holding her up at the moment, and her voice cracked as she called out her brother's name. The forest around her was quiet, and she was just about to give in and start walking again when she heard…something. It was too quiet for her to properly make it out, but it'd sounded like someone yelling. "Haruto! Tomeo! Makoto!"

" _Eri."_ It sounded whispered, but she didn't need to hear her name echoing throughout the forest. She could tell which direction it had come from, and she stumbled away from the tree on shaky legs.

The ground under her feet was uneven, and she tripped once as she tried to hurry her pace. The fall jarred her body and worsened the pain, but she pushed herself up and continued walking. She'd heard her name being called, which meant that one of her brothers was nearby. She ducked under a very low branch and paused, and there was still enough sunlight for her to be able to see. Her weak legs failed her and caused her to drop to her knees, and she braced her hands against the ground as bile burned her throat and spewed from between her lips.

Now that she was close enough, the smell was unmistakable. _Death and rot_. Her eyes burned as she looked up, and she was able to confirm that she hadn't been having some kind of waking nightmare. Tomeo was lying flat on his back on the forest floor, with one side of his chest still gaping open. His eyes were open and dulled, mouth still parted. Haruto was lying next to him on his stomach, and there was a dried pool of blood under his pale face. The wounds on his neck…he'd bled out next to Tomeo's dead body.

Lying a few feet away, with the front of his body pressed to the ground, Makoto had one arm outstretched towards the twins. His face was turned in her direction, and his eyes were filled with pain. Behind him, there was a long trail of dried blood. As if he'd been wounded and drug himself across the ground to try and reach the twins. He was looking at her now, and she could see his colorless lips repeating her name even though no sound was coming out.

"Makoto…Makoto!" Eriko didn't have the strength to get back to her feet, so she crawled to where he was lying on her hands and knees.

Her hands were shaking as she reached him, and she quickly looked him over. He was only wearing a pair of loose brown pants, that stopped halfway up his shins and were barely hanging onto his hips, and she couldn't see any life-threatening injuries on his back. His feet were cracked and bleeding like hers were, and his back had a few scratches and several deep bruises. Nothing that should have had him this weak. She smoothed her hands across his shoulders and started to carefully roll him over, and she made quiet sounds in the back of her throat as he cried out in pain. The same kind of sounds she made when he was feeling sick as a baby.

The front of Makoto's torso had been ripped open. The cut started just below his collarbones and extended down to just above his navel, and Eriko realized what had happened. Makoto had been on his knees behind her when Daisuke's sword cut through her; she knew that the sword had come out through her back, but she hadn't known that Makoto had been cut open as well. The sword had only cut down his torso instead of going completely through his body, but the wound was still deep enough to be fatal. Especially with his suppressed energy. It looked like the cut had tried to heal in some places but had been ripped back open, and Makoto's eyes met hers as she put the pieces together.

"Saw them. Didn't wanna, die alone." He groaned in pain as even saying those few words caused the part of the cut on his chest to gape open, and Eriko ran her blood-caked hands over his thin cheeks. Makoto had dragged himself across the ground to reach the twins, despite the way it must have caused him to continuously be ripped open, because he'd been dying. Could still die.

"I have to stop the bleeding, okay? I'll stop the bleeding and then I'll take the suppression cuffs off so your healing can handle the rest. Okay?" Makoto was so thin and pale, and she didn't even know if he could survive having the suppression cuffs removed. She knew he'd die if his energy remained contained though, and she had to do whatever she could to save him. She'd already lost Haruto and Tomeo, but she could save Makoto.

Instead of answering, Makoto held her gaze and nodded. That was good enough for her. She raised up onto her knees a little more and pressed her left hand flat against one side of Makoto's chest. He might be weak, but he was going to try to fight her. It was instinct. So she'd hold him down. She focused her energy into her right hand until the tip of her forefinger was glowing bright red, and she locked her left elbow as she started to drag her right finger across the cut on Makoto's torso.

As expected, Makoto's weakened body tried to buck and twist away from the pain. She did her best to hold him still and made soothing sounds in her throat as her fire fused his skin back together, and the sounds of his screams echoed off the trees. She hated hurting him, but she needed to make sure that he survived. She had to heal him, and this was the only way she could in her weakened state. She was too weak to use her energy to heal him properly, but she had just enough strength to summon her fire. The smell of burning flesh was strong in the air, but it didn't take her long to completely seal the wound.

"Wha' the fuck?!" Makoto yelled as she moved both hands away from him. His head lifted off of the ground so that he could look down at himself, and his brows drew together as he ran a hand along the thick scar that ran down the length of his torso. "Is it supposed to be black?"

"I don't know. That's only the second time I've ever done that," Eriko said and looked down at her own torso. The length and thickness of the scar on her torso matched Makoto's perfectly, but the knotted skin was a dark pink instead of a stark black like his.

"Haruto? Tomeo?" Makoto had twisted his head around to look at where the twins were still lying, and Eriko bit down on her bottom lip as fresh grief rolled through her. _Not yet_. There would be time to mourn her brothers, but not yet.

"We'll lay them to rest in a moment. We need to get these off first," she said and reached for the thick cuff on Makoto's right wrist. The cuffs were only meant to suppress Makoto's energy specifically, and he was the only one that couldn't remove them. Eriko could though, if she used some of her own energy.

The first cuff broken after a moment, and Eriko quickly reached over Makoto's body for the cuff on his left wrist. His hands moved as his wrists were finally freed, and she crawled on her knees to reach his feet. As her brothers got older, their energy became stronger. Master had to place cuffs on their ankles as well to keep them weak, and Eriko growled under her breath as she struggled with the cuff on his right ankle. It finally cracked and fell off, and she gripped the last cuff with steady hands. It took another small burst of her energy to break the cuff open, and she felt herself smiling as the broken pieces fell to the ground.

"Huh, I don't feel—" Makoto's back bowed off the ground as his hands clawed at the hard dirt, and Eriko's eyes widened as she felt the power that started to flow out of him.

" _He's so strong…I always knew he'd be strong, but this…I didn't know it would be like this,"_ Eriko thought as Makoto's energy was released for the first time.

The ground under them was shuddering, and she could hear the trees groaning. Makoto's energy was the same light blue shade as his hair, such a beautiful color, and Eriko could smell the fields from their home village as his energy finally crested. His body heaved as he panted, but his energy was stable. The ground had stopped shaking, thankfully, and Makoto's eyes were wide as he stared up at the darkening sky. They knew that he'd have the ability to manipulate the earth, just like Eriko had her fire, but neither of them knew to what extent. Judging by what she just felt, he was going to be…

"…magnificent," Eriko whispered. Her dirty hand reached up to touch his cheek, and Makoto turned his face into her palm.

"Do you think they'd be strong too?" Makoto's voice was quiet as he looked up at her, and Eriko's smile felt brittle at the edges. Like she was going to fall apart.

Haruto had been able to control the wind, and Tomeo had been able to create and control water. Eriko was sure that the twins would have been just as strong, but they'd never know for sure. Not now. So she dipped her chin and moved her hands to grab Makoto's shoulders, and he grunted as she pulled him upright. Her arms locked around his shoulders once he was sitting, and she felt his hands grabbing at her back. They'd lost their brothers, but they still had each other.

"I'll…I'll put them to rest." Letting go of Makoto wasn't easy, and she felt his fingers still touching her back as she started to crawl towards Haruto and Tomeo.

" _They're so small," Eriko said as she held one squirming baby in her arms. She'd just turned eleven the day before, and her mother said that she was old enough to hold her new little brothers. The other baby was lying in a bundle of cloths in her lap, and she had one hand braced against his stomach. Her hand moved up and down as he breathed, but they were both so tiny. What if she hurt them?_

" _That's why they need their big sister to protect them." Her mother was pale and sweating despite the snow that covered the ground outside, and Eriko looked down at the babies that curled closer to her for warmth._

" _I can do that. I'll protect them."_

"I am so sorry, little ones," Eriko whispered as she reached their bodies. Since she was still kneeling, she let herself bend over just enough to brush a kiss against Tomeo's brow. Then she leaned over and forward some more to press her lips against the top of Haruto's head. "May you find peace in your next lives."

Tears dripped off her chin as she pressed her palms flat against them, against Tomeo's chest and Haruto's back, and her tired body tried to protest as she pulled at her energy once more. Fire raced down her arms and coated her hands, and the tears on her face turned to steam as she set their bodies on fire. She couldn't leave them out in the open for scavenger demons to feast on, and she knew that burying them wouldn't be enough to keep the scavengers away. The bodies had to be burned, and her throat felt tight as she watched her brothers disappear under the flames.

"May you be free in the next life." Makoto whispered it against the top of her head as his arms wrapped around her waist, and he held her up as she started to burn the bones into ash. She could feel him shaking against her back as they mourned, and a wounded sound escaped from her throat as their ashes started to fall to the ground. "Save the little fingers, because we're gonna make them a promise."

" _Alright, little ones! Mother and Father are traveling to another village today, so I'm in charge. Mother and Father are trusting you to behave, and so am I. So no getting into trouble today. Promise?" Eriko asked as she knelt in front of her three little brothers. The twins were four, Makoto was three, and their village would be completely destroyed in a couple of weeks._

" _Promise!" all three boys yelled and held out their left arms. Eriko grinned as she extended her left arm as well, and she went down the line to link the littlest finger of her left hand with each of theirs. It was how they always sealed their promises. The same way their parents taught them to._

"What are we promising them?" Eriko's voice was scratchy as she slumped forward, and she only remained somewhat upright on her knees because Makoto's arms were still wrapped around her waist. She reached into the ashes with unsteady hands, and she scooped up three small bones in each of her palms.

The bones of Tomeo's left little finger were in her left hand, and the bones of Haruto's left little finger were in her right hand. Everything else of them had been burned to ash. These bones, just six little bones total, were all that was left. Her eyes burned with fresh tears as she leaned back against Makoto, and he moved one arm away from her waist. She heard the sound of fabric ripping and looked over her shoulder just enough to see him holding a piece of cloth ripped free from the bottom of his pants.

"Give me Haruto's bones." Eriko raised her right hand and passed the bones to Makoto, and she watched as Makoto carefully tied them up in the brown fabric. _Oh_. She ripped off some fabric from the cloth wrapped around her hips, and she placed Tomeo's bones in the fabric and then tied it as tightly as she could.

"The promise?" Eriko asked again. Makoto's arms wrapped around her again, and his chin hooked over her shoulder as he held out the hand with the cloth-wrapped bones. She grabbed his hand with the one holding Tomeo's bones, so that the small cloth pouches were being held between their palms, and then leaned her temple against his.

"To never be slaves again," Makoto said quietly. Eriko tightened her fingers around Makoto's hand and felt his hair tickling against her cheek as she nodded.

" _If you'd had a few more decades, maybe a century or two, you might have been able to overthrow the bastard who turned you into a slave."_

Raizen's words hadn't meant much when she thought she was dying, but she thought of those words now. She was alive, she still had one of her brothers, and they had time. There was still a collar locked around her neck, but she was free. Her and Makoto were alive, free, and they had time now. They had decades, centuries, and they could make things right. It wouldn't be easy, but the Arakawa family had never backed down from a challenge.

"We promise to make this right. The demons who kept you weak, who enslaved us, will pay for what they have done. We'll make it right."

 **1991 April**

Nari looked away as she finished speaking, and Kuwabara had enough tact not to ask if she was okay as she wiped at her cheeks. Instead, he looked down at the pictures she'd finally revealed.

On the left page, Eriko was lying on her back in the sand. The picture showed the blood on her skin, but the biggest wound was covered by a long yellow piece of cloth. Her hair was spread around her, fresh blood was pooled on the sand around her body, and her head was turned just enough to look up and to the side. The collar was still wrapped around her neck, and there was only a single cracked lock on the left side. She was looking up at a tall man with long white hair and dark blue markings across his body, and Kuwabara recognized the markings. They looked like the ones Urameshi had after his demon ancestor took over his body, but Kuwabara already knew from the story that it was Raizen standing next to Eriko.

The right page was even harder to look at. It showed Eriko on her knees in front of two bodies, one face-up and one face-down, and there was a tall demon kneeling behind her. Eriko's youngest brother, Nari's dad, Makoto. Kuwabara could tell that he was tall because he towered over Eriko even with both of them kneeling, but he couldn't see Makoto's face. All he could see was where his arms wrapped around Eriko's waist, the back of his blue hair because he was looking over Eriko's shoulder, and a light blue tail the same color as his hair was wrapped around Eriko's reddish brown tail.

"I'm sorry, it's just…I know I never met them, but they were family. Papa and Aunt Eri, they lost everyone they loved. Their village was like one big family, and it was destroyed. Their parents died during the battle and then they were enslaved. They endured so much. Losing them too just doesn't seem fair." Nari's fingers brushed over the right page, over the drawing of the twins, and Kuwabara reached out to cover her hand with his own. He couldn't imagine what it'd be like to lose Shizuru, and he didn't want to imagine it either.

"Eriko's earring?" Kuwabara asked after he felt Nari's hand stop shaking. Her eyes were a little red as she looked over at him, and she bit down on her bottom lip as she slowly nodded. He remembered seeing the bones that made up Eriko's left earring, and he had a good idea about who the bones belonged to now.

"Tomeo's pinky finger. Papa has Haruto's pinky finger on a necklace. They carried the bones in pouches for years, until they found someone who could thread the bones with steel and guarantee that the bones would hold. They've worn them ever since," Nari answered quietly. It was kinda morbid, but Kuwabara thought he could understand. They wanted to keep their brothers with them.

Nari's hand twisted in his, and he was getting ready to let go when her fingers laced through his. He looked over at her in surprise, but she was already reaching out for the book still propped up in her lap. She used her free hand to turn the page, and Kuwabara saw two rows of text on the page closest to him. There was another picture on the left page, but Nari's arm was hiding it from his sight. That was okay, because the picture wouldn't make sense until Nari had told him the story that went with it anyway. So Kuwabara let Nari hold onto his hand, since she still looked like she wanted to cry, and leaned back against the couch.

"What happened next?"

* * *

 **Ending Note:** Bit of a doozy, right? I didn't want to cut the chapter off after the "escape" or at any other point, so I decided to just keep going. I'll try to reign myself in a little better next time.

I've updated the images I have posted for this story, for the people who like visual. There's images of the current original characters, and images of the original characters that will be in upcoming chapters! As well as pictures of the Demon World map mentioned in this chapter and of Mt Jirou/Corinth's Palace. You can find the link to Vagabond Images on my profile page. (I'd put the link here, but FFnet really doesn't like outside links.)

I'd love to know reader's thoughts! Also, if you have any questions about anything, I'd be more than happy to answer them!


	6. IMPORTANT NOTE

**Author's Note:** It has been a long and difficult year for me. I won't go into excruciating detail, but I will say that I am now regularly going to therapy and working towards better mental health. Between depression and insomnia and anxiety, it's been a real emotional rollercoaster. (And I prefer the calmer rides. I want to be on an emotional ferris wheel.) I feel like I'm slowly getting better though, so I wanted to update my readers.

There is something that I want to make clear: I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY. It is going on hiatus, but that is just so new readers won't expect a quick update. As for everyone who has read/favorited/followed/reviewed, I cannot thank you enough for your support. I do promise that when I update again, this story will have several pre-written chapters so that no one will have to wait months for updates. Until then, thank you again for all of your support and kind words. I hope you're still here when I come back.

[I am posting this to make sure that I don't break any FFnet rules, so here's a quick little drabble that means absolutely nothing.]

* * *

 **Interlude: December 19, 2018**

"I don't like waiting this long," Eriko growled. She was sitting on a boulder that was low to the ground, arms crossed tightly, and the air around her shimmered with pulses of heat.

"Been waiting forever to jump Raizen," Makoto drawled lazily. He was stretched out on the ground right in front of her boulder, and she kicked one foot out. It caught him on the side of the head, right above his ear, but his only retaliation was to halfheartedly swat at her ankle.

"It was just starting to get good. The next chapter was going to be about how we got back at...you know who I'm talking about. Now there's going to be a pause. It's frustrating," she explained. Tsubaki said the wait was necessary for the story to be told correctly, but her favorite Oracle left out the part about how annoying it would be.

"You know what's good for frustration? A good, hard-Dammit, Eri!" Whatever filth get brother was about to say was cut off as the tip of a lock of hair was set on fire, and she tossed her head back in a laugh as Makoto rolled across the ground in an effort to put the small fire out. She'd already snuffed it out, she'd never actually set him on fire no matter how much he pissed her off, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

 _"Maybe waiting won't be so bad,"_ she thought as her little brother continued to roll around and shriek profanity.

* * *

 **Ending Note:** This tiny snippet was fun to write and hopefully a little entertaining to read. Also, this chapter will be deleted once the story is off hiatus.


End file.
